Frank on the Mountain Top Podcast

​He's Frank because he has to be. After years and years, I finally have my long-time friend Frank Kermit back on the show. He has always been about straight talk when it comes to women, men, sex, dating and relationships...which is probably why he and I made friends immediately and that friendship has endured. In this long-overdue episode, we talk about the strange rise in bitter, hurt, resentful people--both men and women--and how so many of us got this way. Resentment is the quiet poison that eats men alive. It wrecks your masculine presence, makes you unattractive to women, and slowly destroys your edge in life. Naturally, we kick off the conversation with a searing discourse on self-imposed limiting beliefs, and how the media actually reinforces them. And then, what's up with all those long checklists women schlep with them on dates? And on the other hand, why is it that the less success with women a guy has had, the "pickier" he might become? And what's up really going on when we play "Whack-A-Mole" with one excuse after another for not succeeding with women, to the point where we just get angry rather than actually doing something about it? Why is it so true that 'hurt people hurt people'? And what if 'Mr. Nice Guy' really has something pent up under the surface? As it turns out, getting over any resentment that's built up within us--especially toward our family and women--has to come from a place of genuine desire, not to mention raw, masculine courage. Does that mean actually confronting those who have hurt you? That's for you to decide. f you've been into men's dating and relationship stuff for years, you might wonder why you haven't heard from Frank in a few years. Well, as it turns on he was on one hell of a personal journey...losing 260 pounds (!) You'll get the lowdown on that as well.

​Photo via Pexels

​Embarking on a journey of self-improvement is a powerful way to achieve optimal wellness. By focusing on various strategies, you can enhance your personal and professional life, leading to a more fulfilling existence. Let’s explore some practical approaches to help you unlock your potential

​Setting realistic goals and creating actionable plans is a crucial step toward achieving personal growth. Begin by identifying specific, measurable objectives that align with your values and long-term vision. Realistic goals ensure that your aspirations are both challenging and attainable, preventing feelings of overwhelm or discouragement. Once goals are set, break them down into smaller, actionable steps with clear timelines to maintain focus and track progress. This structured approach not only builds momentum but also provides a sense of accomplishment at each milestone.

​If your goals include learning new things or boosting your career, there are endless options available–and this can feel overwhelming. The good news is, there are many resources you can use to make your chosen path more attainable, including online tools that will provide flexibility and accessibility. For instance, if you have experience in healthcare, you might consider utilizing an online program to earn a master’s degree in health administration. This will allow you to learn about healthcare systems and develop leadership skills crucial for advancement in this dynamic field. Check this out if you’re interested in continuing education for your personal development goals.

Incorporating yoga into your daily routine can significantly enhance your well-being by merging physical activity with mindfulness. You don’t need to overhaul your schedule; even dedicating a few minutes each day to simple stretches or breathing exercises can boost mental clarity and emotional balance. Consistency is key, as regular practice increases your awareness of thoughts and emotions, helping you tackle life’s challenges with resilience. If possible, attending a yoga class weekly can deepen your practice, but online sessions offer flexibility for busy schedules.
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​Integrating helpful tech into your fitness routine can significantly boost your commitment and track your progress effectively. By using workout accountability apps, you can set personalized goals, monitor your activity, and receive timely reminders to stay on course. These tools not only provide a structured approach to fitness but also incorporate motivational elements such as community support and rewards, making your fitness journey more engaging and successful.

To achieve a healthier lifestyle, mastering the art of meal prep is a crucial strategy. By planning your meals for the week, you can align your dietary choices with your fitness goals and nutritional preferences, ensuring a balanced intake of essential macronutrients like proteins, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Designate a specific time, such as a weekend afternoon, for batch cooking key ingredients like lean meats and whole grains. This approach not only saves time but also reduces the temptation to opt for unhealthy fast food during busy weekdays.

To boost your energy and sharpen your mind, prioritizing quality sleep is crucial. Sleep is not just a passive state; it’s a vital biological process that helps in supporting optimal function. Lack of sleep, whether for a night or over several days, can gradually impair your body’s systems, affecting focus, memory, and decision-making. Ensuring you get enough ​NREM and REM sleep stages helps maintain a consistent sleep-wake cycle, essential for high reaction times and cognitive performance.

Developing self-awareness is a vital step in mastering your emotions and enhancing mental well-being. By understanding your own emotional landscape, you can navigate complex situations more effectively and mitigate potential mental health challenges. This approach resonates with the ancient wisdom of ‘knowing thyself,’ emphasizing the importance of balanced emotional attention and clarity. By fostering self-awareness, you can enhance your emotional intelligence, leading to healthier relationships and a more fulfilling life

Clutter–both at work and at home–can lead to stress and anxiety, but clearing out unwanted items and putting a few strategies into place will make a world of difference in your mood and productivity. Digitizing your essential documents is a great start; by converting your documents into PDFs, you ensure they remain consistently formatted across various devices, making them easy to share and access. This not only enhances document security but also preserves their integrity over time. Start by exploring various PDF maker options to create PDFs from scratch or convert existing files, such as Microsoft Word documents, into PDFs.

By embracing these strategies, you can embark on a transformative journey towards optimal wellness. Each step you take in self-improvement not only enhances your personal and professional life but also contributes to a more balanced and fulfilling existence.

​Embark on your own transformative journey with Obese Recovery and discover the support and inspiration you need to reclaim your life and health.

Needless to say, your wedding day is meant to be special, one of the greatest days of your life. At the same time, though, your wedding day is a whirlwind of emotions, events, and excitement. It’s easy to get caught up in the chaos and miss out on the small, meaningful moments. Just so much is happening, and it’s all going to fly by! So, that’s why staying mentally present on your big day ensures you soak in every precious second. But how can you do this? Where do you even start? Well, here’s how to keep your head in the moment and truly enjoy your wedding day.

​Start Your Day with Intention

So, you’ll need to begin your wedding day with a clear and calm mind. Take a few moments in the morning for yourself. Whether it's meditating, journaling, or simply taking a few deep breaths, set an intention for the day. But overall, you need to just remind yourself of the love and joy that brought you to this moment. It’s really going to help if you just start your day with a clear intention, which helps you stay grounded and focused on what truly matters.

Delegate and Trust Your Team

You’ve spent months, maybe even years, planning this day. Now, it’s time to trust in that planning. You need to enjoy this day; you can’t do everything on your own. So, that’s why you need to delegate responsibilities to your wedding party, family, and vendors. 

It’s best to just surround yourself with people you trust and let them handle the logistics. But overall, knowing that everything is taken care of allows you to relax and be present. So, just trust that your team has everything under control so you can focus on enjoying your day.

Try and Keep a Close Circle

This might sound a little weird, but there’s a lot of truth to this. So, you need to spend your wedding morning with a small group of people who bring you calm and happiness. For most, it’s their bridesmaids and groomsmen. 

These are the people who will keep you grounded and remind you to savor each moment. Their presence can help you stay relaxed and centered. Whether it's your closest friends or family, having a supportive and loving circle around you sets a positive tone for the day.

Take It One Moment at a Time

Hands down, you have to keep this in mind: your wedding day is a series of beautiful moments. They’re so beautiful that the best way to truly let these little candid moments shine would have to be through documentary style wedding photography. Basically, only a good photographer can shoot these special moments, but only you can truly enjoy these special moments- it’s your day. 

So, you need to try to experience each one fully. Seriously, you don’t want to rush from one thing to the next- this is a massive mistake that couples keep making. You don’t want to look back on this day and barely remember anything!

Steal a Few Private Moments

Your wedding day is about you and your partner, but most couples don’t even get to interact that much! So, amidst the festivities, find time to steal away together. These intimate moments can be some of the most memorable parts of your day.

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By Bella Reilly

​Imposter syndrome silently hinders numerous individuals, obscuring their true abilities and accomplishments. Self-doubt can be challenging to overcome, but there are some things you can do to help the process along. This article, explores the nature of imposter syndrome, its effects, and crucially, practical methods to overcome it. Embracing these approaches enables personal and professional advancement, helping you embrace your true potential.

Imposter syndrome often manifests as persistent self-doubt and a sense of fraudulence, even in the face of evident competence. Identifying its presence in your life is crucial. By understanding its symptoms, you can begin to dismantle the barriers it creates, paving the way for a more confident and assured self-perception.
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Surrounding yourself with positive influences is key. A network of encouraging friends, colleagues, and mentors can provide essential emotional support, which is especially important for entrepreneurs. This circle of positivity reinforces your strengths and bolsters your confidence, acting as a buffer against the doubts and fears associated with imposter syndrome.
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Building up your confidence through further education is a powerful step towards professional growth and advancement. Returning to school to enhance your skill set demonstrates your commitment to self-improvement. For instance, pursuing a master's degree in nursing equips you with the expertise needed for roles in nurse education, informatics, administration, or advanced practice nursing.

Online degree programs offer the flexibility to balance work and studies, making it convenient to pursue your educational goals while continuing to excel in your current role. Utilizing this resource could help you unlock your full potential and achieve your aspirations in the ever-evolving field of healthcare.
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Perfectionism can be a significant contributor to imposter syndrome. Recognizing that imperfection is a universal human trait and that errors are part of the learning process helps alleviate the pressure of imposter feelings. Embracing your flaws as opportunities for growth can significantly reduce the burden of unrealistic expectations.
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Recognizing and rejoicing in your achievements, big or small, plays a crucial role in personal growth. Celebrating each milestone, even those that might appear insignificant, not only strengthens your sense of self-worth but also acts as a powerful antidote to the detrimental effects of imposter syndrome.

This practice of acknowledging your successes is important, as it reinforces your belief in your own competence and value, and also serves as a reminder of the progress you've made, highlighting the journey of growth and learning that accompanies each achievement.
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Staying organized is key to efficiency and productivity, especially when it comes to managing important documents. Digitizing paper records offers a streamlined solution, eliminating the need for numerous physical files and enabling easy access to information. By consolidating everything into a single PDF file using an online tool, you can keep all your documents neatly organized and readily accessible.

These tools not only simplify the digitization process but also provide additional functionalities such as adding, reordering, deleting, and rotating pages within the PDF. Learning how to add pages to a PDF ensures that you can efficiently manage your digital documents, keeping your workspace clutter-free and your information easily manageable.
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​Imposter syndrome is fueled by negative self-views. By actively confronting these negative thoughts, seeking evidence of your competencies, and reminding yourself of your past achievements, you can start to alter your mindset.

This consistent practice of challenging and reframing your thoughts can lead to a transformative shift in how you view yourself, gradually substituting self-doubt with an acknowledgment and appreciation of your true worth and capabilities. Additionally, this process helps to build a more realistic and positive self-image, reinforcing your confidence in various aspects of your life.
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​Embrace challenges as opportunities for growth, and view failures as valuable learning experiences. A growth mindset acknowledges that learning and personal development are continuous processes. This perspective encourages resilience and a positive approach to personal and professional challenges.

Overcoming imposter syndrome is a transformative process that begins with self-recognition and the adoption of effective strategies. By understanding and addressing the root causes of imposter syndrome and applying these practical methods, you can liberate yourself from its confines. Remember, your true worth lies in your ability to grow, adapt, and persevere, not in the deceptive whispers of self-doubt.

​Dry spots on the skin pose a common challenge, often causing discomfort and detracting from our overall well-being. These parched patches can stem from various factors, including environmental triggers and underlying skin conditions. This blog aims to shed light on the causes of dry spots and provide practical solutions for restoring moisture and vitality to your skin.
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​Dry spots emerge when the skin lacks adequate moisture, resulting in rough, flaky areas that feel tight and itchy. Learn more about how to nourish and revitalize your skin to combat dry spots effectively.
Several culprits contribute to their formation:

1. Environmental Influences: Harsh weather conditions, excessive sun exposure, and low humidity levels strip the skin of its natural oils, exacerbating dryness.
   
2. Skin Disorders: Conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis lead to persistent dryness and inflammation, manifesting as stubborn dry spots.
   
3. Over-Washing: Excessive cleansing or harsh soaps disrupts the skin's protective barrier, causing moisture loss and developing dry patches.

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​Dry spots manifest in various ways and can appear on any part of your skin, including:

• Flakiness: Dry patches exhibit a rough, flaky texture, often accompanied by small, white, or grayish flakes.
  
• Redness and Irritation: Dry skin may appear red and inflamed, causing discomfort and sensitivity, particularly upon contact or exposure to certain products.
  
• Tightness: Dry patches feel tight and stretched, especially after cleansing or exposure to dry environments.

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​Addressing dry spots necessitates a holistic approach to replenish moisture, reinforce the skin barrier, and tackle underlying causes. Effective strategies include:
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1. Hydration: Drink ample water to hydrate the skin internally. Use moisturizers containing humectants like hyaluronic acid and glycerin to attract and retain moisture externally.
2. Gentle Cleansing: Opt for mild, fragrance-free cleansers to avoid stripping the skin's natural oils. Limit shower duration to 10-15 minutes, and use lukewarm water instead of hot water.
3. ​Exfoliation: Regular exfoliation removes dead skin cells, enhancing moisturizer absorption. Choose mild exfoliants like alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) or beta hydroxy acids (BHAs) to avoid skin irritation.
4. Protective Measures: Shield the skin from harsh environmental conditions by wearing protective clothing, using a humidifier indoors, and applying broad-spectrum sunscreen daily.
5. Targeted Treatments: Consult a dermatologist for persistent dry spots associated with skin disorders. They may prescribe creams, ointments, or oral medications tailored to your needs.

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​Incorporate skin-nourishing foods into your diet, such as:

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Found in fatty fish, walnuts, and flaxseeds, omega-3s support skin health and alleviate inflammation.
  
• Vitamins and Antioxidants: Consume foods rich in vitamins A, C, and E, and antioxidants like green tea and berries, to protect the skin from oxidative stress and promote healing.

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​Dry spots on the skin can be challenging, but with the right approach, you can restore moisture, alleviate irritation, and achieve a radiant complexion. By understanding the causes of dryness and adopting a skincare regimen, you can bid farewell to dry spots and embrace healthier, smoother skin year-round.

​Many people forget about their eye health in the wake of other concerns. However, you only get one set of eyes in your lifetime, and this means that it is important that you take care of them as best you can. Therefore, here are some of the tips that you should follow if you are desperate to improve the health of your eyes in 2024.
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​​If your eyesight is poor and you are constantly struggling to read signs or look at objects far away, you might consider getting LASIK surgery. This surgery can help to reverse the damage that has been done to your eyes and can allow you to live glasses-free for years to come. Although your eyesight might start to worsen again over time, LASIK surgery can ensure that you can gain 20/20 or improved vision. LASIK can be especially useful for those who perform or play sports, as glasses can often get in the way of these activities. LASIK is a short and relatively stress-free procedure for most people, with a short recovery time; just look around for clinics that can offer LASIK eye surgery near Los Angeles
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​​Often, it can be easy to ignore your need for glasses. However, if you do not have the right prescription, you might find that you are constantly developing headaches and that your eyes are dry and strained all the time. This happens because your eyes will need to work harder to focus on objects and tire more easily. This can affect your quality of life and cause more damage to your eyes. Therefore, you should always return to your optometrist if you believe that you need new glasses or that your eyesight has worsened or improved. You might also consider replacing your glasses if you have been using them for a long time and they have become scratched.
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​​The best sunglasses can help to protect your eyes from UV rays. They can prevent the sun from damaging your eyes and can stop you from getting headaches. They can also reduce your risk of eye diseases in the future. You should look around for high-quality and polarized sunglasses that can ensure that you are able to spend time in the sun without worry. If protecting your eyes is not enough to convince you to wear shades, sunglasses might also prevent wrinkles by stopping you from squinting when it is sunny outside.
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​Massaging your eyes can relieve eye strain and might even improve your sight if you make this a regular habit. Massaging your eyes can also relieve tension and allow you to relax. However, it is important to massage your eyes correctly. For instance, you should massage pressure points around your eyes in a circular manner to get the best results. You might also find that these massages make you look younger and help with any dryness that you are experiencing.

​Perhaps the biggest mistake people make is not seeing a doctor. While a minor knee injury will heal over time, there are many serious injuries that will require some kind of treatment. The knee is an incredibly complicated joint, and there are all kinds of injuries that can be sustained, so it is essential that you get a proper diagnosis. You should also follow your doctor’s treatment plan exactly.

​It is frustrating when you have a knee injury, as it can make daily tasks and exercise difficult and painful. This pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong, which is why you need to avoid activities you find painful while recovering. It is not easy to accept, but you risk aggravating the injury and having a much longer recovery period if you do not listen to your body.
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​​Following this, you should make sure that you are getting enough rest. Rest allows your body to heal itself, so you must dedicate enough time to resting with no weight on your knee each day. It is also important to get enough sleep each night, as this is when your body does its best healing work – you should aim for 7-9 hours a night (and even when you are not injured).

​Knee surgery is often recommended as a treatment option for serious knee injuries. While this can be an effective option, you need to be prepared for the fact that recovery from a serious knee operation can be difficult and take a long time. This is why it is always worth exploring non-surgical treatment options, such as cellular treatment. You can see a knee pain doctor in Asheville who can accurately determine the cause of your pain and develop a personalized treatment plan. Regenerative treatments like cellular treatment use your body’s own healthy cells to provide pain relief without surgery, and research shows that they can be highly effective at treating various orthopedic injuries.

These are a few of the most common mistakes that you will want to avoid when managing a knee injury. Knee injuries are frustrating because they can cause a lot of pain, take a long time to recover from, and interfere with your daily activities and ability to exercise. By avoiding these mistakes, you should get onto the road to recovery before long.
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