Setting the Tone

Overall, my trip was a success. Got to spend time with some of my peeps and fam, got to feed my craving for my fave Mexican food spot (still can’t believe me and the gals were there for 6+ hours), got to celebrate with extended family (and meet new family) at my cousin’s baby shower and spent some quality time with my mom. Four to five days staying with family is the magic number before I start to lose it a little lol. I tried not to overwhelm myself too much and didn’t beat myself up for not seeing everyone this go round. There is always next time.

After my long return commute on Sunday, I was reminded why I don’t like travelling on the weekend. I normally would travel on a weekday since the drive is so much smoother, but for “team cohesion”, I was trying to be back in the office on Monday. I ended up encountering traffic in every state. What should’ve been a 5 hour drive back was well over 7 hours, which had me arriving later that night. It didn’t help that I filled up on gas in MA and didn’t have to make any stops to refill and to stretch the whole drive back, so my body still aches. Leaving in the afternoon instead of early morning also didn’t help. I wanted to see mom dukes one more time. We ended up having a really good conversation and catch up while I served her lunch. There’s something about her hugs now that are so nourishing. I’m reminded how much I don’t get to hold or touch her. The distance and her current circumstance doesn’t allow for that, so I wanted to soak it all up, and it didn’t matter how late I left.

I was determined to start the work week right, despite my fatigue. I normally meal prep on Sunday night but instead Door Dashed. Luckily, I was due another cheat meal, so I didn’t feel too bad. I didn’t stay up long after, as I turned in earlier than usual for the night. I laid awake for a bit but once I turned the tv on, I was out shortly after and the tv was watching me. Since I didn’t get to do all of my prep that night, I had a late start to my Monday at work. After struggling to get through the work day, with my eyes half open the whole time, I am reminded that I am no good to myself or anyone when I’m not well rested and organized for the week. I was determined to get it right the next day.

Usually, after a long day’s work, I rush home with my music blaring in the car, eager to plop down on my couch and engage in mindless tv, until I remember to eat something hours later. This week, I was determined to change my routine. For the past week, I’ve been starting with silence in the car, both in the morning on the way to work (to set my intentions for the day and pray) and in the evening after work, trying to process the day’s events. It’s only after doing this that I then either turn on my music or tune in to my favorite podcasts. The types of content I consume does matter for getting and keeping my mind right, so I’ve been very selective about what I listen to. I’ve been in this learning phase, so I’ll usually turn to “Diary of A CEO”, “The Friend Zone” or “The Read” for the most part. There are countless others that I stumble upon, but there are too many to list here. If I want to zone out a bit, I’ll turn on my favorite tunes, usually upbeat with catchy tempos that keep me pumped up for my rides to and from work. Thank goodness for the Amapiano genre!

Once I’m home, I try to shift to chill mode so I’ll continue listening to podcasts while I prepare dinner. I also have this habit of keeping little notebooks around in case I want to jot down any ideas or thoughts that come to mind that I’d either like to revisit or expound upon later. Once dinner is ready, that’s when I’ll turn on the tv. It’s either YouTube, Netflix or Max for me and I’m always looking for short-form content. Don’t want to chill out too long in front of the tv, pass out asleep on the couch and wake up in the wee hours of the night in a stupor, unable to go back to sleep. After partaking in some short clips of content, I’m up again resuming the wind down for the night. I put my phone on the charger and forget about it, moving on to my “me” activities.

Since I’ve been doing more blogging and developing my podcast, I’ll dedicate some time each evening to my hobbies. Many people will get home and continue their 9-5 work. I get home these days and I engage in activities for me. I believe that if I’m not pouring into myself in some way, I will resent all the time spent doing things for others. I used to see projects as overarching and all-encompassing, having me feeling like I never had enough time to accomplish much in moving them forward. What seems to be working these days is me setting mini goals. These are a series of smaller goals within a larger one. For example, instead of setting a “to-do” task of posting 1-2 blog posts a week and dedicating one night for each post, I’ll break the task down to smaller goals. Instead, I’ll have a goal of typing up 2 paragraphs minimum a day, until a post is complete. Instead of burning 2 whole nights just blogging, I’ll spread the work across the whole week. Doing this allows me to do other tasks like research for the new pod, prep for my upcoming class work and checking personal email.

Once those tasks are done, the wind down continues. I wash the day off of me, change into some comfortable duds and put together a playlist of content to watch in the comfort of my bedroom, just in case I’m having a hard time turning all the way down. By my bedside, I keep any books I have been reading lately, a journal or 2 to continue writing and my laptop in case I get the urge to create more content. I end up not needing any of those distractions because before I know it, I am out like a light. My sleep is more restful, I wake up more energized and prepared to take on the new day. We’ll see how long this new routine will continue to work.