While a person’s characteristic is embedded in you, a habit is a choice that you can practice to improve and feel better about yourself
- Cleaning my house once a week and every second day in my room
When the house is clean, I feel relaxed and not frustrated by the surrounding mess. My room is especially important as I spend most of my time in my room. During this pandemic, I mostly work at home and recently moved my workstation back into my room. To keep me feeling less stressed, I spend a lot of time reorganizing and cleaning. I want to feel happy in the space that I associate the most with.
The most recent task I worked on was to reorganise my working station, see below for the result :)
- Exercise 3 times a week
It is so cliché to say this but not many people practice it. I used to go to the gym 3–4 times a week, mostly after work and at least once on the weekend. When Covid started, I froze my membership for 5 months and practised home exercise. I used Chloe Ting for these home workouts, it is good enough for me without having to purchase any equipment or subscriptions.
- Outdoor activities
I started with light walking around the parks and walking tracks, then bike riding with my friends and eventually find myself enjoying hiking the most. I tried to hike at different tracks each time but this activity is temporality on hold as it has been raining a lot here in Sydney and we are still in the middle of winter.
- Keep a small circle of friends
I used to just hang out with anyone, I even tried to fit in into groups that I do not enjoy being with. It was so toxic to me; I didn’t feel truly comfortable around them. I have learnt not to do that anymore, this circle is now down to a single digit, I tend to give these people my full attention and focus. It makes a huge difference to focus on the one who truly matters.
- Decluttering
The people that know me, also know that I hang on to many things. I had to build shelves and storage to store these things. Many of the items I have, sometimes sit there for years untouched. Anything that you do not touch or use in 3 months, you should get rid of them, maybe give it to someone who will be using it or even sell it. This is still a work in progress for me, but the less I have, the freer I feel.
- Reading
The truth is I don’t like to read that much, I force myself to read and it can be a struggle at times, so I listen to books instead. I use my short term attention to read news articles or quick investment updates. One thing I can confirm is that the more I learn is the less I know.
Being an introverted type of person, the pandemic didn’t suffocate me like many other people. I spend this time self — reflecting on everything that could have been done better in the past, spend quality time with family and friends. explored my new hobbies and develop new habits. I try to become accustomed to new routines and if I think those routines are good for me then I practice them enough to make it a habit.
Many of what I do doesn't cost me anything, except for time. Time is probably the most wealthy thing we have right now, we have all the extra time from not commuting to work, not being able to do much due to lockdowns, no travelling etc. instead of picking out the negativities in this situation, I try to bring out the best of it. Five years from now, we will appreciate the time that we have spent nurturing our souls.
