Gratitude of the Day: Flowers
It’s a luxury, but I do buy flowers occasionally for my apartment. I know they’re not necessary and I’m trying to save money to pay off my credit card debt, but it’s a small piece of happiness to see whenever I wash the dishes or eat breakfast. I don’t know how such a small thing can brighten up my apartment so much, but it does. I should actually buy them more often because the happiness ROI is so much! Something to think about.
Until tomorrow
190 Days to go.
Gratitude of the Day: Exercise!
Yesterday, I wrote about the knot in my stomach of anxiety and stress. Not good. I haven’t found much to combat it yet except maybe less work (Ha!). Meditation made me aware of it, but I discovered today that exercise can keep it at bay (predictably). I went to ballet class yesterday (yay!) and yoga today(double yay!) and while I could still sense the bubble of stress, I was focused on something else, so it felt diminished. Another reason for me to go to ballet and yoga. Not only do I feel great after I go, but now it’s also helping dissipate my stress knot.
Until tomorrow.
191 days to go.
Gratitude of the day: Meditation
As part of my New Year’s Resolutions, I started meditating every day…or mostly every day. I started using the app Headspace and have been going through the basics or the minis (if I’m crunched for time). I really like the guided meditations as my mind wanders off and I often forget to bring it back to meditating. It’s only been a short time, but I’ve also found the body scan to be very helpful. I guess I never noticed before, but I hold a ball of anxiety and stress right above my stomach and I’m just naturally stressed and clenching my muscles all the time (work).
I don’t like having this feeling all the time, but I do know that now is the time to do something about it before it grows or gets worse. I exercised on Thursday and I’m trying to do a few deep breaths every time I notice it’s there. It’s a work in progress.
Until tomorrow.
192 days to go.
Gratitude of the Day: Half Day!
Today’s gratitude is an easy one! We were given a half day at work because of the long weekend this weekend. I mentioned yesterday that I’ve been working a bunch this week. I’ve been really tired and worn out, so it’ll be nice to have some extra time to myself (if I can leave on time!)
Until tomorrow.
193 Days to go.
Gratitude of the Day: New York Times 52 Places To Go in 2018
I love this feature the New York Times comes out with every year. I’ve been looking forward to it for a few months now and it finally came out today! It recommends beautiful and interesting places to travel to, both typical travel destinations with a new twist and places off the beaten path. The photos are beautiful and it gives me new ideas for places to travel or just places to look at pictures of.
Work has been hard and long the past few days, so it’s a good reminder that the world is a big place. It helps me look beyond my small corner of California to the wider world and I’m thankful for that. Plus ideas of where to travel to! 🙂
Until tomorrow.
194 days to go.
Gratitude of the Day: The Library
I’ve been working a lot these last couple days so it’s hard to find things to be grateful for. I get dragged down by the day to day of all the emails and things to do. It throws me off my morning routine because I have to go in early and I can’t get everything done that I want to get done. My free time and energy level decreases (obviously) so I end up just scrolling through the internet instead of actually getting things done. But this is why it’s good to do these blog posts! It makes me remember there are great things in my life.
So today’s gratitude of the day is The Library! Specifically their e-book loan program. I’ve been looking for this series of Murder Mysteries forever, but they’re only 150ish pages so I don’t really want to pay seven or eight dollars plus shipping on Amazon. But I found out recently my library carries them as e-books! It was a great day and I started reading it last night. 🙂
Until tomorrow
195 Days to go.
Did not go to ballet 😦
Gratitude of the Day: Meal Prepping
It’s only the beginning of the year still, but I finally figured out a routine which works for me for the week. Basically I just make a whole bunch of food on Sunday and then eat it for every dinner. I was trying to be fancy for awhile and make different foods for lunch and dinner, but it’s too much work and I would always run out of food mid week and then end up buying something to eat (and spending money) towards the end of the week.
So since the new year (not that long ago…) I’ve been meal prepping smoothies and dinner for the whole week and just making sandwiches and other easy things for lunch. So far it’s been good! Not only do I just have to heat up a bowl of whatever for dinner, but I’ve also been spending less money on food and have more time in the evenings. I don’t really like meal prepping, but it really has made the rest of my week easier.
Until tomorrow.
196 days to go.
Gratitude of the Day: Laura Mvula with Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley at Abbey Road Studios
I discovered this album about a year ago after someone on Pop Culture Happy Hour recommended it and it makes me truly happy. It has a sort of melancholy yet hopeful sound and I can listen to it over and over any time of year. It’s really great to write to and have on in the background or to just sit with. Plus I discovered a new artist whom I love.
Easy one today, but something that I’m really grateful for.
Until tomorrow.
197 Days to go. (Under 200 days is consistently freaking me out as I type the numbers).
Gratitude of the day: Pomodoro Method
Have I mentioned I used Pomodoro Method in the past? The basic premise is you set an amount of time to work where you only focus on one task. So set a 15 minute timer for writing and then you get a 5 minute break and then another 15 minutes to focus (or 25 or whatever time works best for you) and then wash and repeat. It’s really helpful to break down larger tasks into smaller time increments to make them less daunting and more manageable (and easier to start)!
I started using the Pomodoro method coupled with the X-method (don’t miss a day so you can see all those sweet x’s) and it really changed the way I get things done. I have such a hard time starting tasks, but it’s easy if I tell myself I only have to do 5 minutes and then I just keep rolling along until I’ve gotten more done than I anticipated. And I get to fill in a day on my Habit Tracker 🙂
Easy peasy.
Until tomorrow.
198 days to go. Eek!
Gratitude of the Day: Coffee!
As mentioned before, one of my favorite things about the day is my morning routine. And it wouldn’t be the same without coffee! I especially love on some weekends when I can just lay in bed and noodle around and drink my coffee. It’s one of the small luxuries in life. 🙂
Until tomorrow.
199 days to go!
Petite Joy 