The past 6 months have been the busiest of my life thus far: two fulltime bachelors, painting lessons, motorcycling lessons, learning French, investing, going to the gym, maintaining my social life, and of course, writing this blog. It’s safe to say there’s not a lot of stillness in the day to day. However, this does not come without a cost. The last few months my body has not been liking the stress I’ve been putting it under, resulting in food allergies and poor sleep quality. Even though I cannot (/do not want to) reduce my current workload, I can prioritize rest in other ways:

A slow morning routine

As described in last week’s blogpost, I’ve changed up my morning routine quite a bit in the last few months. Even though it takes up more time than before, I find that starting my day in this way helps me be more productive and grounded.

Sunrise walk

A very recent addition has been my sunrise walks on my rest days from the gym. I don’t plan on keeping this up for very long as the sunrise is getting earlier quite quickly, it is very nice while it lasts! There is a beautiful viewpoint 10-15 minutes walking away from my house which means watching the sunrise is also a great way to get a walk in early in the day. 

Detoxed night routine

I try to consistently start my night routine at 9pm so I can be in bed between 21:30 and 22:00. Keeping to a schedule has made it way easier to go to bed on time, because it’s not an active choice to go to bed anymore. In the past, I used to really struggle with doing so, as I didn’t want the day to be over yet and I often had a burst of energy in the evenings. Consequently, it took a lot of discipline to get ready to go to sleep. A change I’ve made recently is leaving my phone downstairs (and using an analogue alarm clock). Although this has felt very boring – I used to have a YouTube video playing 24/7 – it has actually made it easier to wind down, and reduced the time it takes to do my evening habits (since distractions are very limited). In the second part of my daily routines series, I will go more into depth on my current night routine.

Mindful eating

This is something I’m striving to get better at, but doesn’t always work out. I’m trying to get to a point where I’m not using food as a break from studying/working, and additionally (and even more importantly) not being on my phone/watching something anymore whilst eating. These two habits tie into each other quite well as eating is very often one of the only breaks I get from productivity. Thus, I feel as if I ‘deserve’ to also watch something entertaining. However, I have found that being present whilst eating improves my digestion and limits snacking afterwards as I’m able to enjoy the food more.

Prioritizing social time

For the most fun part of this entire list: social time! I’ve been making a conscious effort (although not always very successful…) at texting friends more often to hang out. I’ve found that being with friends is one of the best ways for me to recharge. On top of that, having something to look forward to in a day motivates me a lot to get my tasks done.