More than a week ago, I missed my weekly blog (Friday) and my Wednesday quote posts. This was because I did not come up with an idea for a post, nor was I able to commit to reading a book. On top of that, I have been falling short of the need to engage in social media each day.
On top of that, the past few weekends have been jam-packed with a trip out of town and a 3-day camp. With everything going on, my mind was racing to keep up and meet personal deadlines.
Even if I have been trying to be more conscious of my time, the struggle is real. With the back-to-back, jam-packed weeks, I realized how much I have been fumbling with everything. As a result, I have missed so many personal deadlines.
Since I could no longer turn back time, I gave in to the lack of it—which was my fault—and took a whole week off. Putting down my phone and leaving my laptop behind, I dug my feet into the sand.
This break, which spanned over one weekend by the beach and three days at a camp, made me realize a few things about time away.
1. We All Need to Get Away
I have been to the beach twice in about a month and spent 3 days in a music camp.
I have been away and have returned to my slow-paced, bum life feeling more refreshed. A month at home jobless did not seem to have the same effect.
I thought leaving my job would be the break my heart and mind needed. Apparently not. Despite all the sleep I was getting in the past month, my mind kept going.
Little did I know that physically stepping away from this environment was what I really needed. This Forbes article enumerates the benefits of traveling for one’s mental health. While this Harvard Business Review article emphasizes the importance of a change of scenery when you take a break.
After all these activities out of town, I finally sat and kept my mind from racing.
I finally immersed myself in a book and finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
As I mentioned in my last post about joining the Great Resignation, I was running on a treadmill of bank-related deliverables and stopped cold turkey. Even if I was free and felt like I was resting, my mind raced to work on my blog, business ideas, and upskilling. My mind also tended to overthink about landing a new job by tweaking my resume and CV.
The mind still wanted to run on that treadmill, not realizing the body had stopped. Things only clicked into place after days away.
With this realization, more and more thoughts of getting away have been running on my mind……
2. The Early Bird Does Get the Worm (But there is no guarantee)
A thing with traveling is you have to wake up early. I hate it.
If people agree to meet at 7 or 8 in the morning, I would immediately pass without a second thought, no matter how much I loved the person.
I always wondered how people did it. Waking up early is hard because I tend to sleep really late. I am typing this sentence right now at 12:15 midnight. My mind also only seems to work as the sunsets.
The idea for this blog post was only finalized at like 2 pm, and writing the first draft was completed by 5 pm. I was up as early as 9 am to start writing, but instead, my morning was spent in bed scrolling through social media.
My mindset changed after my time at the camp.
The music camp I attended started its day at 6:30am (3 hours earlier than my normal day) and ended as early as 9 pm.
I had to be up before 6 am to get a slot in the bathrooms and be at the dining hall before 7 am. Sessions started at 8 am, with a break by 10 am, then another session before lunch. This was followed by an hour’s siesta and then the afternoon sessions. We were given another hour break by 4 pm, then dinner by 5pm. Lastly, evening sessions started at 7pm and promptly ended before 9pm.
The days were packed with multiple activities but sprinkled with hour-long breaks between sessions.
With the scheduled activities, I never have felt more productive and rested in my life. And so, I decided to somewhat adapt to this schedule and start waking up early.
Here is a good read on the benefits of waking up early by Business Insider, even if you hate the idea like me.
I want to remind you to do what works for you. Not everyone can be up by 5 am. If you want to read more about this, check out this article by BBC about your preferred time.
I am relishing days with strict working hours but sprinkled with all the breaks I need to feel productive and rested.
Reading about freelancers who only work about 25 hrs a week compared to the normal 40-hour workweek of the regular 9-5, I have a new vision of what my work life would look like (check out this blog post by Hasita on the ideal). Here is a good CNN article on the matter written all the way back in 2015.
The end goal is to have 4 to 5 hours of deep work each day. Check out this article on Deep Work from Fast Company to understand the concept more.
The remaining hours could be used for lighter things like emails and phone calls. With lesser working hours, you could travel and get away more. You could even be a digital nomad.
3. It’s High Time to Get a License (Take Small Steps)
As young as 16 years old I tried to learn to drive, but time and conflicts with my teacher, who was also my father, have put that skill on hold, indefinitely.
That is, until this pandemic.
Before the worldwide virus, I could go anywhere I wanted with readily available public transportation. A car was just a convenient piece of equipment that added to the traffic and pollution of this earth. I was fine on our public Jeepneys until the pandemic stopped public transportation on its tracks.
Traveling to and from my hometown stopped unless you used a private vehicle. Packed bus stations felt like abandoned debris with the health crisis.
Getting out of this city (even with the ease of Covid-19 protocols) is a pain as buses and other transportation businesses have not resumed operations. Some of these may have lost their fund to operate due to the pandemic.
Check out my experience of trying to enter the border to another town in this post.
That experience plus my realizations about getting away has pushed me to want to finally get a license and maybe a car.
Taking the steps to get a license, the paperwork, the driving lessons, and the long application process show how tedious it is to get the things you want.
The license will push me to get a car, the car will help me get away, and getting away may help me figure myself out. Keeping the end goal in mind is very important.
It all relies on the first small steps, just like Toru in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (check out what you could learn from the book if you are stuck in the middle here).
Busyzi 
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