Haven’t written in a while. I feel a little tired and bored of the 1000wordvomits project, like it’s not going anywhere. I know though that this is just a feeling and that it’ll pass- and that it’s also a function of me not being fully aware of all the things that I’ve written so far. There must be so many instances of word vomits in the past where I said I’d follow up on something- but I’m not looking at them right now so I’m not sure what to write.
When I first started I sort of blindly hoped that I’ll just keep writing and find myself somewhere new because of it. The end goal remains true and valid. What I’ve learned is that it’s not so easy. If I’m not mindful about it, I end up just repeating myself over and over again. When I get tired of the repetition, I tend to take a break- and if I revisit old things I feel excited again, compelled to fill in the gaps and to continue unfinished trains of thought. Right now I’m on a real train on the way home and the idea of switching out to read old things on my mobile seems a little too tedious. So I’ll just continue writing whatever comes to mind instead.
Right now I’m thinking about how the basics of life are so simple and yet remarkably difficult.
1. Breathe. Literally a no brainer, but I’m a bit of a shallow breather. Cold showers help a bit. Exercise helps more.
2. Hydrate. Simple but easy to overlook. Solved by keeping water bottles around and refilling them.
3. Nutrition. I’ve been trying to have breakfast more often. The simplest solution is to have a protein shake with milk, and to buy soft boiled eggs if I’m still hungry afterwards.
4. Exercise. Right now I’m running and doing pushups roughly twice a week. I need to do more of that. And I’m really looking forward to going back to doing squats and bench and deadlifts and push presses. Would really improve my clarity of mind. Exercise washes the brain and raises the heart rate and breathing, and those things make me feel alive so I should do them more.
5. Sleep. This is probably my biggest limiting factor right now. I just linger and delay and end up going to bed really late almost everyday. The few instances in which I wake early are always a good idea. So why haven’t I learned from it yet? It seems to be an execution problem. I nod my head to myself when I say “sleep and wake early good, sleep and wake late bad”. So there’s something I’m missing, definitely. I don’t think it’s intellectual, it’s habitual.
6. Spend quality time with loved ones. This one I tend to lapse on because I keep saying that I have work to do. But there will always be more work to do. I need to schedule these things in advance. Life is just too short for us to go through it without reaching out to people we care about. Another plus point is- knowing that it’s possible to impress people I care about
7. Work. I have been working for 3 years and it’ll be 4 before I know it, but I’m not very smart about it. I’m not very efficient about it. Work is necessarily either boring or scary, and either way it’s uncomfortable and easy to avoid. I need to develop a taste for discomfort and really throw myself into it.
8. Read. A good book challenges and inspires me to be bigger and better than I am. So it’s not really a luxury, it’s part of good maintenance.
9. Plan. Some time every weekend should be spent planning and it should be sacred. 1-1s with the self. This too is something I repeatedly talk about but don’t take the time to do. Maybe I haven’t made it enough of a ritual.