Survival Strategy #20 – Mental Bandwidth

Bandwidth is defined as the energy or mental capacity required to deal with a situation. I was introduced to the concept of mental bandwidth a few years ago, and the simple analogy made a lot of sense and stuck with me. Although this concept has a lot of other names under which it is known, to me this particular term is very descriptive in the way that underlines both our limit and our capability to overcome this limit.

Like any physical muscle that requires a lot of exercise and proper nutrition to function at its best, our mental capacity or bandwidth requires as much, if not more, careful maintenance. Humans can be capable of incredible feats, but not without the proper groundwork or exercise beforehand.

However, an important idea to remember is that muscle growth and improved overall health benefits of the workout can’t be transferred from one person to another – everyone needs to put in the work for themselves. And just like with any good exercise regimen, it’s very important to take care of yourself and slowly increase your mental capability. You can and will be able to be where you want to be! Just not instantly.

Low-Maintenance Hairstyle – Step 3: Switching It Up

Although it can be very comforting to have the same hairstyle you can fall back on every morning and be guaranteed a decent result, sometimes it’s a good idea to experiment, not matter how much work this might seem like initially.

You never know when you might come across an even easier to maintain regimen. For example, for many years I sincerely believed that having a bob would be the least hassle option imaginable for a hairdo. Long hair wasn’t even considered an option actually, because of how much work I thought it would be.

Interestingly enough, it was due to my laziness that I inevitably skipped a haircut and had my hair grow out a little longer than a bob – and I loved it! Turns out, for my particular hair texture, long hair is WAY easier to maintain than a bob is. Because my hair is somewhat curly, when it’s shorter it just twists and pokes out at weird angles that I then need to flat iron/curl into place. Because I had short hair for most of my life, I never even knew that there was another way to go about hairstyling, and I assumed that the longer your hair, the longer you will need to work on styling it because you would just extend your current routine to match your extending hair length.

Fortunately, I was wrong and am very happy with my longer ‘do, which weighs my hair down and doesn’t require as much sculpting in the mornings as the bob did. I have been much more open to experimentation such it grew out, and look forward to whatever other things I might learn.