Doctors used to recommended trips away for recuperation and it still works. Granted, I'm not ill, but I'm already feeling healthier purely from being in a different environment. You could be too, even if you're as broke as I am: It only costs £2 return.
As I write this I'm sitting in a coffee bar in Brighton (7 Feb), drinking the most decadent coffee ever: Espresso with vanilla syrup and hot chocolate, topped with whipped cream. It's delightful.
I've been a bit lax lately with planning my life, but this is a good thing. As much as you plan things, the unexpected happens: People get ill and cancel on you, money runs out and you struggle to make ends meet, GoogleMaps confuses you and you get lost…
At the end of the day the thing to do seems to be: Decide what the important things in your life are, put all your energies in to making those work and relax/chill about all the rest.
I spent most of the day wandering around Brighton. I got lost almost immediately (although I didn't realise it at first), which won't surprise those of you who know of my legendary navigational skills (or, rather, my lack thereof).
I had all my luggage with me, so that hindered my travels a little. However, if I'd checked in I might have been tempted to just stay in the hotel. Plus, if I hadn't had my bags with me, I wouldn't have gone seeking the Jubilee library.
Never did find the library, incidentally.
I highly recommend taking a mini-break like this, especially if you've been feeling stressed of late: Just taking a day out would make a big difference and it only costs £1 each way, provided you book early enough from National Express; Megabus do something similar.
I highly recommend it, Brighton in particular. Don't forget to chill!
Admin: Sorry for the inconsistency in the frequency of updating. I've been in Brighton over the weekend and what with my essays I haven't been able to plan entries in advance. Will do better, especially when this bout of essays is over next month, thank you for sticking with me.
Posted on 11 February '07 by Kathleen Bright, under Health. No Comments.
On 29th December 2006, I made some important goals for 2006. I've already modified and developed them, which is great because it's important to keep re-evaluating, so I'll be doing this once monthly.
My big goal for 2007: Escape with Courage
In 2006, I said it was Debt-free by December 2007 (excluding student loan). However, on reflection, this is a negative goal because it focuses on something I don't want, namely, debt. So, I've re-worded it to concentrate on something I do want, in the right spirit too: Financial abundance.
2007 is my year of independence
Financial abundance and all kinds of independence
Spatial independence, financial independence, personal independence. For this I need courage, so I'm doing things a courageous person would do. I'm going on my first mini-break without my parents next weekend. Scary & exciting.
I've succeeded in not buying clothing this January (not including my uniform, which I overlooked when setting goals) and am continuing to avoid spending on clothes and clutter in to February. Hurrah!
Student frugality
Being more frugal when it comes to eating out remains a challenge. However, my awareness of how much I'm spending is definitely growing and I feel more uncomfortable when spending a lot on food. I've even taken a packed lunch in this week!
KathleenBright.com
I'm working on exactly what kind of work I want to do, in addition to entrepreneurship: My thinking is that I want to raise capital via consultancy services etc before launching my business as planned upon completion on my postgraduate degree. To that end, at the end of February I implement, and in March I launch, KathleenBright.com. Exciting!
How to be vegan
I have a new challenge for February – becoming vegan. One of the things I want to be true this time next year is this: I'm a vegan healthnut. All I can do to achieve this it to act now, so I am. I'm currently vegetarian, by March I'll be vegan too. Wish me luck!
In addition, increased awareness about what I'm eating helps to keep me on the right path of a) spending reasonable amounts on food, especially when eating out and b) eating healthily. Brilliant when goals come together like that.
Beginners' steps, by a newbie vegan wannabe
- Stop eating and drinking obviously non-vegan products
Yes, lots of things have dairy and eggs in (like cakes) and it take a lot more effort to avoid those, so start with the easy things, like cheese.
- Use dairy-free & egg-free alternatives and substitutes (e.g. soya milk, tofu instead of egg).
Use the Internet to get help from a variety of helpful resources, e.g. VegFamily Magazine
- Go to restaurants that specify what's vegan – vegetarian restaurants tend to be very good at this, e.g. Food for Thought.
6 essays, 27th February
Studying & my MA Ethics & Philosophy of Religion
It's still difficult, but I do want to succeed, so I'm just getting on with it. I've started actually writing my first essay too, so that's all good. My goal here is to continue as I've started: Forging ahead with dedication and conscientiousness.
I'm still not getting enough sleep.
Interestingly, I was listening to another Pavlina podcast in which Erin, I think, asks questions like: Do you hate going to bed because you love doing what you do? Do you leap out of bed because you can't wait to start your day? For me, it's definitely yes to the former, but it's no to the latter because I'm just too shattered.
I'm changing this behaviour because I love being healthy, I love having boundless energy, I love waking up refreshed and ready to start the day.
I'll continue being passionate about what I do, which is currently All Things Bright mainly, but also writing, tidying, reading, coding (well, playing with HTML) and smiling.
However, I really need to get more sleep and I'd rather feel differently about mornings. So there's some conflict, which I'm resolving by experimenting with my sleeping patterns. I'm considering polyphasic sleep, but I'll need to re-read articles about it first.
In the meantime, I'm intending to get eight hours of sleep each night.
It's so difficult; there's so much to do.
Any suggestions? I suppose that the consensus will be, 'just go to bed!' But whatever it is, do let me know. Thanks in advance. :)
Update: I found an excellent article about sleep, which includes an exploration of chronic daytime sleepiness and other disorders. Plus, some practical remedies, including the science behind exercise, warm showers and milk. See: Tired all the time? 25 Jan
Posted on 24 January '07 by Kathleen Bright, under Health, Personal. 3 Comments.
Apparently, according to public opinion, today is the worst day of the year (reports vary as to the specific date, but the consensus is it's roughly now; plus, it's Monday today) – due to a mix of bad weather, the likelihood of having broken one's resolutions by now etc. But I'm actually pretty cheerful because I've been focusing on my goals.
If you've not been as successful as you'd like, don't let dates rule your life: You can have a fresh start whenever you like. If you have goals or resolutions, re-evaluate whether they're important to you. If they are, decide today that you're achieving them and stick to it! For some practical help, see some of my earlier entries: How to achieve your goals.
If you're on track or can see where you've improved, join me in recording your achievements. It'll re-awaken your drive to succeed and boost your confidence too. Incidentally, some people use Twitter to mention what random things they're doing at that very second, I use it to record my achievements.
I've made a lot of changes in my life recently. Some of them are good habits that were gradually developing a few months ago, but with the progress I've made I think my old self would be shocked.
Some of my recent achievements:
- I love fruit and veg! I'm actually going off chocolate and chocolate products (especially the cheaper, chalkier stuff). I eat apples as a snack. I enjoy broccoli and peppers especially, although potatoes and baked beans are still my favourite vegetables. Sometimes I opt for fruit salad instead of cakes, just because I want it. I'm vegetarian and I like it. I'm cutting down on milk and eggs too. I don't think snacks are evil though; I still enjoy cookies & ice-cream.
- I'm tidying my room. Over five bin bags of rubbish and about four massive bags of clothes to charity later, my room still looks, well, a mess. But I know that it's better than it was and I'm still working on it.
- I'm more dedicated. I always thought I was one of those people who wrote my goals down (very important, all the productivity gurus, personal development coaches and lifehackers will tell you so!). But I realised that I was occasionally writing bits and pieces on scraps of paper and never doing anything about it. Nowadays I'm doing lots of 30 day experiments, as well as reminding myself how to keep on track by reading books like Eat That Frog and people like Steve Pavlina.
- I'm getting eight hours of sleep each night. This one is taking a lot of work and I'll need to work harder to be more consistent with it, but I'm getting there.
- I'm using The Secret (also known as intention-manifestation and the Law of Attraction) with greater and greater success. For example, I intended £700 to come in to my life unexpectedly in January and beat that a week or two ago.
I'm doing more to enjoy my life too, especially keeping in touch with my friends, meeting new people and going to the cinema. Next on the list is making the time to read more (including books for study and books for pleasure) and, eventually, studying marketing in a more structured way.
All Things Bright is enabling me to get in touch with even more people. Hooray! I always love hearing from you, so do get in touch.
My working & sleeping today
First day of the Next sale (it's online too, at next.co.uk, open 6am – 1am). So, today, I worked for over ten hours, in the ladies' shoes department. Ten!
Such a contrast with the quiet family Christmas a couple of days before, without which who knows if I could have survived today!
When I got home I was exhausted, naturally. I was hungry too. So I snacked quickly then went to bed, even though I really wanted to sit down and have dinner with my mum.
Woke up about an hour ago and felt so much more human again; it's amazing. I realised, wow, it really does make a massive difference to get enough sleep!
The philosophy behind my experience
Chris Hamilton (one of my lecturers) has an insightful chapter 'The Need for Sleep' (in his book Living Philosophy, which you can buy from Amazon.co.uk & from Amazon.com). I was going to summarise it, but upon re-reading it I've realised it's so rich that skimming it would do it no justice. Chris explores literature as well as our experiences of sleep and thoughts about it to discuss the meaning of sleep.
So, from now on, or at least for the next 30 days, I'm doing a new experiment: 8 hours of sleep daily for the next 30 days. I'm very lucky because I can fall asleep almost instantly, so all I need to do is go to bed eight hours before I want to get up. Easy!
More thoughts & feelings about chilling
Thinking about it, many of my friends extol the benefits of relaxing frequently, especially Ibiji & Immy, who seem to imbue their lives with these kind of thoughts about chilling.
Ian & Robert often remind me to relax instead of cramming so much in to my life, and they're right: Failing to relax leads to stress, which ultimately leads to inefficiency as well as ill health, so cramming is counter-productive.
Help sleeping and relaxing more
Some excellent books that may help you if you'd like to sleep and relax more too.