I started reading The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness
When I was diagnosed with MS in 2014, I started researching and implementing healthy optimizations into my life. If you’ve read the book then you know the simple principle of The Slight Edge is small actions repeatedly done over time create success.
I had unbeknownst to me, or at least unlabeled at the time been implementing this principle in my life in terms of the way that I eat.
I follow an auto-immune paleo protocol. The easiest way to describe it to others or restaurants is gluten-free, dairy-free and nightshade vegetable free (I found these to be hard for my body to digest when I did an elimination diet).
So when I eat gluten or dairy do I notice a difference in how I feel or immediate symptoms?
If I eat something at a restaurant with traces of gluten I notice that I’ll feel a little more lethargic or bloated but no one else would be able to tell. However, when I eat dairy or nightshade vegetables I have an immediate digestive reaction (we won’t get into details but you can guess).
So why am I so diligent in the way that I eat? Because I know the more I fuel my body with the foods that I can digest and get nutrients from the healthier, more vital, and more energetic I am. I know the less inflammation I’ll have in my body and the more optimized I will be so that my immune system doesn’t get confused and attack itself. I’ve mastered the mundane of meal planning (or as a society still labels it a diet) but I know that my actions every single day create health for me as evidenced by the nonprogression in my disease. In terms of the slight edge, doing repeated healthy actions every single day to create health and vitality in my body is so worth it. But that’s hard to see for many who focus more on the depriving aspect of meal plans than on the repeated positive actions causing overall health and vitality.
I also have applied the Slight Edge principles to the way that I blog, podcast and work on my side hustle every week.
I write 1 – 2 blog posts a week, publish a podcast every Friday and reach out to friends or acquaintances or strangers online to see if they’d like to try a sample of essential oils, follow up with someone who’s tried the samples or see if I can host a class teaching others about proactive health.
Am I a millionaire?
Nope.
Do I have the financial abundance that allows me to provide for my family, pay for my health care costs and travel multiple times a year?
Yup 🙂
My diligent slight edge actions in my side hustle also overlap with my diligent daily actions in my full-time career and how I plan and live a life that I love.
So this book is absolutely amazing. I very rarely post about a book until I’m all done and can give a quick review but this book is just resonating so much with me.
I’m halfway through and I can’t wait to give you a full review but I needed to pop on here and give you some quick food for thought on how slight edge actions really do create an abundant life for us in both health and wealth.