the post that started it all (for a while) **
https://medium.com/marius-andra-blog/why-i-dont-eat-on-mondays-9219945cbadb
However, weight training is not part of my life at all yet. And fasting, running etc have fallen off, too.  
Aiming to use easy whole body light cardio routines to step up intensity while maintaining a daily routine (most important),  and asanas to limber up  and ease down, until I can do the hard things.
Currently running literally forces me to crash a couple of hours later.
Nobody analyses the human condition like Ran Prieur does. 
For all my working years, I have run to his writings for solace.  He has a couple of pieces on money as debt and fractional reserve banking that are extremely enlightening in the sense it gives you a simple model that works exactly as the large complex world does, and helps you split the world into sensible causes and effects, and help take decisions better.

But of course, his key attraction to me is the "Civilization makes me feel like sh!t" content.

It's impossible to get folks to talk about this, everybody's in a hurry to cut the conversation short when you touch upon this academically.

https://froogy.blogspot.com/2021/09/i-need-to-feel-like-shit-in-order-to.html  ***

In my Mumbai days, I was living on literally zero personal space, for four years. That explains the addictions, the destructive patterns , general goal-less-ness and inability to capitalise on opportunities and resources available.

I remember a college senior telling somebody the difference between (then) Mumbai and Pune and this has stuck with me since
- in Mumbai, you close your eyes, fall asleep, and then it's morning already
- in Pune, you'll sleep and sleep and sleep and when you wake up,  born anew , it will be somewhere between 12 and 2 in the night.
** the other post was Dr Jason Fung's "Critical importance of time restricted feeding" - got me on to finishing dinner by sunset, as a prelude to intermittent fasting, which never happened.

Whenever I have been between jobs, I have exercised, maintained health, pursued meaning happily. Woke up in the morning cheerfully.
*** this has been especially true when I did Yoga in my year off.  Going back to work was so difficult when I was so peaceful. So I ended up stopping Yoga classes. In retrospect, that was a downward zag to what had been an awesome zig up.
Something about being employed makes on feel guilty for being happy, or for doing anything constructive for oneself. 

The key here seems to be a difference between what we areI am and what we I need to be.

Progress always happens in lots of meaningless iterations that culminate in a large mad headless rush into something. However, all our social systems work hard to limit it. Students who are too good are asked to slow down. That stops their learning, cos one cannot learn at a pace slower than natural - it depletes the experience of meaning.

Derek Sivers wrote "No speed limits" , and I am still wondering how to inculcate that into my life. (The other thing from Derek Sivers is the art/quantity post. There are many, but these 2 for now)

If I were to believe that all jobs are training, and say for example, by doing this Java job, I'll get to a place where everyone will be using Lisp , (teenhood dreams) , then maybe the quest has meaning, and I'll know what to do with resources I acquire on the way, unlike the cash that is sitting in a bank account cos I don't know what to do with it, nor want to spend on myself cos I don't know if I'll luck it again.

First thing to remember is that you and your environment are separate., to remember that  your destiny winds independently. Maybe correlated maybe intertwined, but never combined. Thus independence of identity is maintained.

Meditation doubles down as a key tool at every stage, by examining every personal thought in neutrality. This gives you power over your mental blocks. 
Exercise helps by improving mood and increasing energy. Also health indirectly. The only way to beat addictions is exercise.

Third is a niche where you live, which echoes your values.

Monday mornings are the best. Infinite potential. 
How many apples can you eat on an empty stomach ?
during the week, the heart becomes silted with guilt and overdue tasks and missed opportunities.

The correct way to reset this is exercise. A brisk jog to raise the heart rate long enough to put you into another state. Food will taste better  then. If you are ordering out too much, remember this trick. Stairs and skipping will work also.