Chris Loper has been writing about self-improvement and helping busy adults with habit formation since 2017. He also writes an education blog for parents and students for Northwest Educational Services. Along with Greg Smith, Chris is the cocreator of Parenting for Academic Success, a series of transformative classes that create empowered parents, confident students, and harmonious families. His most recent endeavor combines his academic and habit-formation expertise to help students thrive in college. Visit SmartCollegeHabits.com to learn more. In 2021, Chris published a humorous memoir titled Wood Floats and Other Brilliant Observations, a book that blends crazy stories with practical life lessons. He lives in Issaquah, WA where he is the owner of South Cove Tutoring.
Self-Hatred is Hard to Overcome About five years ago I was in a bad place emotionally. I didn’t love myself. In fact, a lot of the time, I hated myself. I was an addict. I was injured. I was depressed. And it was all my fault. Despite how much I was suffering, I didn’t feel compassion for myself. Instead, I judged and berated myself. I regretted the choices I had… Read More »How Do You Cultivate Self-Love?
Last week, I wrote about a new eating routine that I began in light of new information about something called the “glymphatic system.” I didn’t mention that, in addition to making my sleep more restful, making this one improvement triggered a number of other positive changes as well. Today, I want to use that experience to highlight a phenomenon I’ve come to call the cascade effect. The cascade effect is… Read More »The Self-Improvement Cascade Effect
Long-time readers will know that I’m all about brain health. Improving the strength, function, and longevity of my brain is the reason why I exercise nearly every day, the reason I avoid sugar, the reason why I meditate, and the reason why I make sleep a priority. But I don’t know everything there is to know about brain health, so when I learn something new that seems important, I adjust… Read More »Get a Better Glymphatic Flush by Not Eating Before Bed
In every person, there is a complicated mixture of competing wants. We crave short-term pleasures, but we also want deeper, longer-lasting satisfaction. We like instant gratification, but we also want the rewards of delayed gratification, hard work, and patience. Here are some of the competing wants that I wrestle with: I want to sleep in, but I also want to have time for my daily self-care routine. I want to… Read More »What Do You Want More?