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9d
Life Tips
Trading meh time for quality time
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I've been noodling on how to describe this for while and I feel like it might be best shown by example: A few weeks ago I made a minor adjustment to my work schedule that allowed me to walk my kids to school and return home with 30 minutes of free time before work. Essentially, I traded meh time from my lunch break and the end of the day for an open morning and...It has been wonderful! The stressful rush of school day mornings has been replaced with a peaceful walk followed by quiet time for a little repast and time to go over Japanese flash cards, read a book, or just stare at trees. Trading time is a quality of life improvement that needn't be complicated. I loathed piling into the car for a six-minute drive to school (ugh modern life :| ) followed by the scramble for parking and the rush back to start my workday. Those thoughts collided with the realization that the 30 minutes between when I ended my work day and went to pick up the kids wasn't really that restful, plus I figured that I could probably adjust to a shorter lunch break (I was apprehensive about this because I'm a notoriously slow eater, but it's been fine!). With all that in mind, I mathed the math and the math mathed back and voila: I traded meh (bleh, even) time for lovely mornings. What's time in your life made stinky by activities that aren't ideal there? Can it be freshened by trading all or some of its contents to a different, more appropriate, time? Try it out. Be creative with your life! (Image: Point Desk Clock by Yohei Oki)
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4w
Life Tips
Do less
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I'm sorry because I know this probably comes across as a patronizing rec, but it's truly not meant that way. It's also not always practical -- our lives tend to get busy without our permission sometimes (I have two small kids who don't ask permission for needing help and attention at all hours, for example). But I've had to tell myself to "do less" over the years and it has been a liberating mantra when I've felt restless or overwhelmed, and thus far no one has come after me hollering "do more" (at least not directly). Really, it's like not getting enough sleep; we can cover it up by having coffee or energy drinks or, I don't know, some kind of supplement, or just cultivating a generally grumpy persona, but it's all a band-aid. The only, only way to get enough sleep is to get enough hours of high-quality sleep -- stupid simple, but not stupid easy (source: I, who go to bed at midnight or later almost every night). Getting so busy and bogged down you feel haggard or ill isn't so different. You can cover it up in all sorts of ways, but the only essential solution is to respect your individual need for balance between activity and rest. I don't know, maybe this is really just a reminder for myself!
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8w
Life Tips
Not equating using the phone to doomscrolling
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A cell phone is a tool. It can be used to communicate, read a book, study a language, as an aid for meditation, more and less... The discourse around mobile devices devolves so rapidly to doomscrolling or other unhealthy or non-generative activities that it seems almost as if we can't choose what to do on a phone, if we choose to use it at all. But we can decide, so let's collectively decide to start with that.
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