I haven’t been drunk for almost a month, and recently I started doing about 20 minutes of cardio on an ergometer while watching The Colbert Report (to make time pass more quickly) every morning. According to John J. Ratey, exercise is supposed to encourage all kinds of neurological processes, and from personal experience the effect seems to be dramatic, even with as little as 20 minutes of cardio a day.
I can say that I haven’t felt this mentally fit for quite a while. My diction has more finesse. My reasoning involves more complexity. Even visually everything seems sharpened, more focused, more vibrant. I tend to consume more sophisticated material. In the past few months I watched a lot of entertainment shows for diversion. Now I have to turn those off after a few minutes because of the unpleasant sensation of my mind being stalled. In other words, boredom sets in quickly. Instead I watch a lot of talks on either technical or socio-political subjects. And I find them entertaining, too. Also, I consume books with gusto.
The thing I enjoy most about my regained clarity are my inner conversations with myself. They are fast-paced now. They make me chuckle, and they are illuminating.
I manage to impress myself again.