Friday open thread: good habits
Dec. 4th, 2020 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12It's snowing outside, and I am delighted! I've lived in the northern hemisphere for twelve years, and I still haven't got over my wonder (as an Australian) at frozen stuff falling from the sky!
This week I'm returning to people's prompts for the open thread. Today's prompt comes frombruttimabuoni, and it is:
What good habits do you have — things that you do because they make you feel good, healthy, positive?
I have quite a few of these, and I'm quite methodical about maintaining such habits consistently. I have a bullet journal with a monthly habit tracker.
The big ones for me are exercise: I aim to do some form of exercise at least three times a week. In normal times this would be swimming, which always leaves me feeling fantastic. Generally I can only sleep well if I have been swimming consistently. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I haven't been able to swim that much this year. I went during the summer when I had access to an outdoor pool, but I'm not prepared to risk spending time in an indoor pool or gym changeroom, even though my gym is open, and numbers of COVID cases in Cambridge are relatively low.
So for the most part, during the pandemic, I've been going running instead of swimming. I don't really enjoy it all that much, although I like the feeling afterwards!
The other physical activity I try to do very consistently is yoga. I don't really count it as 'exercise' as most of the sequences I do don't elevate my heart rate, but they do help me to feel calm, supple, and focused. In addition to longer yoga sessions, I have two sequences (one for the wrists/hands, and one for the neck) which I do several times a day to help combat the aches and pains I get from working at a computer.
My other 'good habit' is something I avoid, rather than something I do. I realised several years ago that looking at social media, particularly Twitter, first thing in the morning, always left me feeling angry and miserable. At that point, I decided that I would log each day when instead of going onto Twitter, I read part of a book during the morning. This has done wonders for my mood and my general lack of anxiety.
Over the years, I've gone through long periods of avoiding Twitter entirely. I've drifted back recently, but have made the decision that I'll be avoiding the platform again as of January, except for one brief weekly check in.
What about all of you?
This week I'm returning to people's prompts for the open thread. Today's prompt comes from
bruttimabuoni, and it is:What good habits do you have — things that you do because they make you feel good, healthy, positive?
I have quite a few of these, and I'm quite methodical about maintaining such habits consistently. I have a bullet journal with a monthly habit tracker.
The big ones for me are exercise: I aim to do some form of exercise at least three times a week. In normal times this would be swimming, which always leaves me feeling fantastic. Generally I can only sleep well if I have been swimming consistently. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I haven't been able to swim that much this year. I went during the summer when I had access to an outdoor pool, but I'm not prepared to risk spending time in an indoor pool or gym changeroom, even though my gym is open, and numbers of COVID cases in Cambridge are relatively low.
So for the most part, during the pandemic, I've been going running instead of swimming. I don't really enjoy it all that much, although I like the feeling afterwards!
The other physical activity I try to do very consistently is yoga. I don't really count it as 'exercise' as most of the sequences I do don't elevate my heart rate, but they do help me to feel calm, supple, and focused. In addition to longer yoga sessions, I have two sequences (one for the wrists/hands, and one for the neck) which I do several times a day to help combat the aches and pains I get from working at a computer.
My other 'good habit' is something I avoid, rather than something I do. I realised several years ago that looking at social media, particularly Twitter, first thing in the morning, always left me feeling angry and miserable. At that point, I decided that I would log each day when instead of going onto Twitter, I read part of a book during the morning. This has done wonders for my mood and my general lack of anxiety.
Over the years, I've gone through long periods of avoiding Twitter entirely. I've drifted back recently, but have made the decision that I'll be avoiding the platform again as of January, except for one brief weekly check in.
What about all of you?
no subject
Date: 2020-12-06 06:04 pm (UTC)I agree with you that major life events should probably be communicated in different ways, but other people will make different choices. The reasons for which ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I cannot fathom. I mean, was I shocked when everyone started talking about "you were so beautiful at your wedding and I'd never seen you in a dress before" at Christmas dinner? Oh yeah. Did I just smile confusedly and kept my mouth shut? You betcha. While I am a person who tries (and fails) to let things like that roll off my back and find equanimity in the unexpected, I also have to admit that this situation made me pull back from that friend circle. I find it somewhat regretful, but not enough to confront it head on.
What you describe sounds a lot like life after grad school (granted, most of them didn't move 10 timezones away, except the Australians who went back home), as mine is a field where people leave and don't look back (scientific research, wet lab). I've accepted that people will drift out of my life in that way unless both sides make an effort which I am personally bad at (and yes, I hate video conferencing, I have enough of that at work these days), but I also fully understand why you want to preserve ties with back home and in the current situation, it's probably an additional blessing since travelling is not an option.