I promised myself that I would blog more often, and more for myself than for other motivations. Here’s what I’ve been doing in the last month:
2020 themes
I bought a workbook called Make 2020 Amazing, because I adore Ria of The Whole Happy Life, and the way she explained her goals resonated with me. While I thought my values were obvious, after following the workbook here’s the top four that I came away with:
Thoughtfulness
- Giving every interest, endeavor, or interaction your loving thoughtfulness. Pause. Don’t gloss over them, skip them over, or pretend they can always wait for you.
Simplicity
- Fewer commitments. Realistic use of time.
Decisiveness
- Knowing what you want and not spending more time, energy, or anxiety stressing over those that you don’t.
Consistency
- Develop good habits for life. Commit to making the effort.
And of course, my theme for the year:
Courage
‘Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without courage, you cannot practice any of the other virtues consistently.’ — Maya Angelou
Digital decluttering
I picked up Cal Newport’s book, Digital Minimalism, some time last month and I cannot say enough good things about it. I know that minimalism has been on trend and discussed to death, and 2020 seems to think it cool to shit on it and ‘its empty promises’.
Nonetheless, the book attracted me so because of my own struggles with time management. It’s rather safe to say that a lot of people struggle with their relationship with social media—it affects not only your ability to focus, but also your mental health.
I could go on and on about the book, but I’ll save that for a separate review.
For the entire January, I cut off social media, not the least of which is my ‘unholy triumvirate’ of apps— Facebook, Instagram, and reddit. Today I opened the first two and realise I haven’t really missed much. In exchange, I was able to do the following:
- Resume wall-climbing with Chad
- Late-night coffee with Jeph
- Dinner with friends
- Dinner with and existential career talks with Chad
- Calling and texting Dad more often
- Read two books
- Update my personal site
- Blog this post
You might not be impressed with these activities, considering Chad and Jeph live in the same area! But consider that prior to this, my free time bled away in computer screens, usually piling on the YouTube videos, spending half an hour writing a retort on some political post on Facebook and not sending it, or frantically searching my reddit saved posts for something I found funny in 2015.
Stopped going to Starbucks so often
I used to go nearly every day I’m in the office. If I’m not having a brewed coffee at Pancake House, I usually take it from Starbucks.
Chalk it up to frugality, avoiding temptations (cookies and cakes and brownies!), or adopting the mindset of preparing my own food and drinks where I can help it. Or maybe I got tired of walking up and down Valero Street for brewed coffee that differs by the day.
Still, I’m not thoroughly enjoying the hazelnut coffee at the office pantry. I might just start bringing my own pour-over coffee.
Leaned in to home cooking
Mornings used to mean cornflakes or muesli with milk, or Pancake House. It’s not the healthiest or cheapest way to start the day, but it was quick and easy.
It’s astonishing how quickly you can prepare breakfast in the morning when you’re not on your phone on the first forty minutes of your waking hours. Some breakfasts that Ben and I have gotten in the habit of:
- Spamsilog
- Hotsilog
- Oatmeal with cinnamon and honey / golden syrup and apples
- Savoury oatmeal, cooked with cheddar and topped with egg (I know it’s weird, but it makes a decent pre-gym meal)
- Buttered toast with scrambled eggs
I want to keep leaning in. I still haven’t quite fitted dinner into my routine. I miss my late grandmother’s tortang giniling, and eating crunchy lumpiang Shangai with steaming hot sinigang or bulalo.
Visited Boracay
It was a first for me and Ben both. We finally got to see what it’s all about.
I might talk about it at length in a different post, but here’s the best photo I have:
State of my music library
After a month of classical Christmas music, I’ve taken a rest from Gregorian chants and have gone to classical music. My morning alarm is tied to this playlist, and my evening alarm to this one, I think. It’s pretty swell.
Steve introduced me to Hello, Goodbye and the ‘Frog Song’ by Paul McCartney, which is a surprisingly nice lullaby. I was watching the video with curious disbelief, when I saw an old and obscure figure from my childhood—Rupert Bear!
Whenever I ask Google Home to play Hello, Goodbye it continues with a radio of similar old songs. One quiet Friday night I learned a song that goes ‘cheer up sleepy Jean‘ and was kinda thrilled to hear a song with my name on it. But was less than thrilled to lean that it’s about a not-so-happy couple in suburbia:
Cheer up, sleepy Jean
Oh, what can it mean to a
Daydream believer and a
Homecoming queen?
Well, that’s all for now.
Here’s a photo trifecta of Lily:
‘Trash kitty where trash kitty belongs.’ — Ben