Supplement Your Mood

In last week’s blog, I talked about how, after making tons of money, I turned some of my business responsibilities over to a few associates and family. After that, I thought my life would be so great, so easy, so happy and content. But I was in for a big surprise!

I began to go crazy and wondered why. I quickly started to realize that what I was experiencing was actually normal when a person retires. It seems that if you get to a point in your life that you’ve got enough money to do anything you want, you still have to have a plan to make your life fulfilling and meaningful again.

So, in my experience, my mood changed a lot, and I became disturbingly different. So, I turned, as I do, to reading about this thing I was going through. I found a couple goods of goods books that were so unbelievably helpful.

One of the books that really got my attention was Disrupt Aging by Jo Ann Jenkins. I actually had the book before this all happened but it didn’t hit my brain like it did when I was so down in the dumps. Some information, as good as it is, doesn’t mean a lot until you really need it.

The other book that hit me even harder, giving me very specific and easy things to do, was The Mood Cure by Julie Ross. I learned so much from this book. Her recommendations made an immediate difference in my life. They resolved things due to aging as well as mood, such as the age related decrease in serotonin, which plays a critical part in regulating our mood.

 So, I looked into what supplements and vitamins could help our mood and lift our lives.  Here’s a short list of what I found:

• Tryptophan
• 5 Htp
• Magnesium
• Calcium
• Iron
• Chromium
• Vitamin D

When I started taking these, I did notice that my mood was much better and that the change was very quick.

Go ahead and do a little research and see what else you can find about taking certain vitamins and supplements. As I am sure you will agree, our mood is so very important in our lives, so it’s well worth giving it a try. After looking into the supplements and talking to your doctor, give them a try and see what good stuff happens.

Dark Times in the Midst of Great Success

Life is very interesting and can have huge ups and big downs. Most people think that if they make a lot of money all their problems will be solved. I certainly thought that. At least until I made a few million dollars.

I can’t really complain but, I have to say, I was surprised by some of the feelings that came up after making my fortune. Instead of finding all my problems solved, I found myself struggling emotionally. I still struggle a bit now, but it’s nothing compared to when I reached my financial peak. I didn’t, and still don’t, have any problems with money or trying to manage all my properties, but something else popped up. I was getting depressed, a lot, and way too often.

In the last year, however, I have made some great progress in that part of my life. First, I identified where most of the depression seemed to be coming from. Probably the biggest thing that brought on the depression was the huge change in my routine. We humans really do need some routine in our lives and when I had reached a very high point in my business life, I thought, okay, now I need to make some big changes so I could better enjoy my success.

I started by putting my kids in charge of my property management and some of the money management. At first, I was very satisfied with this new arrangement, but not too long after that I found that I missed the routine associated with managing my properties and money. Playing tennis and working out was helpful, but only a bit.

I knew I had to do something about this, so I started reading many books on the challenges of retirement and what can be done to overcome them. One of the best books I read was Mood Cure written by Julia Ross. This book pushed me to look into vitamins and supplements as well as pushing myself to set up a new routine. So, I did that and got a huge lift from the supplements and vitamins. They really do wonders for the brain and can help a person overcome depression, lifting the mind and spirit to a much higher level!

I also found studies that show how much serotonin can lift you out of depression or just low moods in your daily activities. Part of the problem for most of us is that we are surrounded by enemies that lower our serotonin. Things like too much caffeine, chronic stress, a lack of exposure to natural light, and a lack of physical activity can all throw your serotonin off. So, I work on relaxing, getting outside, and staying physical.

Depression can be really tough because once you’re in it, you can lose the motivation to work on getting out of it. But you can do it. Just take one small step at a time. Starting with vitamins and supplements is a great way to do that, as well as reading some great books that will help you figure out what is best for you.

The Power of Writing it Down

I’ve written a lot about my research on the benefits of goal setting and how very important it is, even critical, to do whatever you want to do with your life. Goal setting can have a huge effect on just about every part of your world, whether it’s about your job, your health, lifting your mood, pushing out any depression you have, or what you want for the future.

It has been proven that you can heal some parts of your body by using your brain to work things out. That’s how powerful our brains are. Combine this power with goal setting and you can change a person’s life while lifting yourself to huge and greater heights.

Goal setting is not super hard—it’s the work you have to do to reach your goal that takes hard work. But, even so, there are parts of goal setting that are easy to overlook.

There is one big thing that doesn’t always get done when setting goals, even though it is quite easy to do. It’s surprising, the number of people that don’t do this, or only do it once in a while.  And what is that little extra thing that hugely increases your chance of reaching your goals? It is simply to write down your goals, put a time line on them, and review and visit your written goals regularly.

In my recent January 15^th post, I shared a list of affirmations that can help you with your goals setting. They are from Sujatha Lalgudi’s book, Gratitude Journal. It’s a super list that I think can really help many of us struggling humans.

I received the book as a gift and a few days after I received it, I began writing down this list of affirmations from this great little book and then I tried to re-read what I wrote down several times a day.

After doing this for a number of days, I really noticed a change in myself, primarily a very positive change in my thinking. It has worked so well that I want to challenge you to do the same. First write down the list. We take what we write down a lot more seriously than the things we think of in our heads or just read in a book. Then read through this list several times a day and see the difference in can make in you.

Go to this post to get the list I pulled from the book or, even better, go get yourself a copy.

Just the simple act of writing things down can make a difference in how successful you are with what you set out to do. Think of yourself and how important your goals are and see how writing things down can really start changing your life for the better!

Cautionary Words in Uncertain Times

So what would you do if you had a pretty good nest egg saved up but your bank was paying you a lousy 1/2% a year and a good friend just told you about how he is getting an 18% annual return with monthly dividends through investments with a good friend? Your first reaction might be, “Wow! That’s a great return.” But then you might ask, “Tell me more about this friend and the investment, because it sounds too good to be true.”

This friend might say, “I’ve known this guy for several years and he’s a good guy that I have great confidence in. I invested some of my cash with him a year ago and he hasn’t ever missed a monthly interest payment. I just recently put all the rest of my savings into his deal and even had my mother put most of her savings with him.”

So, what you would be hearing from this friend is that he’s put virtually all his cash and savings into this “safe investment” and the return is guaranteed. But for all you know, he may even have put a second mortgage on his house at a low interest rate so he could make the difference in the spread. I don’t know what you’d do, but I know I would hold on to my wallet and run like hell.

Sadly, this kind of scenario happens almost every day. It can be particularly bad during a slow economic recovery. After the hard years of the pandemic, people are ready to find something good that can help them recover and build their savings against the next difficult time. I personally have known a number of people that have lost almost every penny to their name because they bought into situations very similar to the one described above. These were not ignorant people. They were really quite smart and educated so you wouldn’t think they would be susceptible, but such good sounding deals can be very tempting.

There is an old saying that goes back to the 16th century: “Tis the part of wise men to keep himself today for tomorrow and not venture all his eggs in one basket.” The other saying that we’ve all heard that we need to drum into our heads is, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

One of the policies that has driven my investment life is, “If I do choose to put all or most of my eggs in one basket, I must have total control over that basket and I must watch that basket very, very closely.”

I have talked about this before, but with the way things are now, I thought it was time to put out another reminder. Even if you are introduced to someone that a family member or friend says they have total confidence and trust in, just remember where the term “con man” comes from—it comes from the description of people who build up your confidence and trust in them before they strike.

This is not to say that there are not very good investments out there, but just be careful and always check them out very thoroughly. Be sure your investment is backed by solid, verifiable assets and don’t put all your financial eggs in one basket. Not unless you are the one in control of those eggs and can watch that basket very closely!