Tag / motivation

by yojeanyi

Gloomy days can be good days: flipping the tone

I woke up today feeling groggy, probably from another strange dream with shapeshifting friends and roads going nowhere. I cranked my eyes open before the unconscious world could drag me back into a sticky slumber. Leaping from bed to office chair in 5 seconds, I started writing in hopes that my brain would believe and enact a good day ahead.

Having a good day consists of the following:

Good food, good company, feeling good, being good. If half of these are present, I’d be having a good day. If all are present, that’s a great day.

obligatory prescription: for how best to wake up each day:

“

  1. get substantial exercise the day before;
  2. sleep longer and later than you typically do;
  3. eat a low sugar breakfast rich in complex carbohydrates, with a moderate amount of protein
  4. pay attention to your body’s glucose response after eating.

“

A) Good food– I know people who eat the same sandwich for lunch and are content. Whatever good food is to you is perfect, as long as its not all unhealthy. Balance is key. For myself, I love some crunchy veggies and fruits. I discovered a satisfying tangy ranch popcorn seasoning when I’m feeling decadent. (The entire bottle is 195 calories which will take a while to get through.)

You can never skimp on the god of foods, protein. I go for the ease and nutrition of boiled eggs, fish, beans, and less frequently, delicious beef stews and pork belly.

My personal favorite meals- juicy street tacos cut with fresh red and green salsas, soothing savory and herbal pho, a big stomach filling bowl of bibimbap made from stir fried wild greens, julienned veggies, earthy mushrooms stirred in gochujang and sesame oil, warm gnocchi made from golden potatoes riced with a slotted spoon and tossed in a pea, sun dried tomato, hot chili oil, butter garlic sauce. Anything chocolate. Frozen treats like chocolate covered frozen bananas rolled in toasted chopped walnuts, peanuts, sea salt. Or a DIY peeled mini mango popsicle. Lots of water. My coffee with a thick cloud of foam. Pickles.

B) Good company – Spending time with people who accept, care, love, challenge you. Hanging out with those with similar interests or values. These will be family, friends, coworkers, classmates, community members, strangers at the gym without whom you will never exchange a word or even a glance, but who are with you in a shared space to focus on the same goal. It can be fellow movie goers, the number of which will not matter. In the dim theatre you are laughing and sniffling together. Good company in good spaces.

C) Feeling Good – Being active (walking, exercising, standing/stretching), giving a big stretch, journaling, reading a page out of book, chatting, listening to music or enjoying the arts. Unscheduled time alone, being without anything that requires attention. Doing the responsible things and doing the carefree things.

And feeling good even though it feels bad at first can be tackled as follows:

According to one internet user:

“Like, I started the workout routine by spending 3 weeks just getting out of bed, putting on my running shoes and workout clothes (not in that order) and just standing outside my door. Spent weeks literally just practicing going outside in the morning, until that stuck as a habit. Then I started by practicing jogging 10meters/yards for a few weeks, and then I progressed from there. Now I run 5-8km each time.”

D) Being Good – Helping others, asking and receiving help from others, expressing gratitude, self reflection. Working on projects and short term or long term plans. Remembering good times, letting go of bad times.

It’s also a healthy practice to limit screen use and passive consumption. Whenever we work on the screen, I’m sure it is now common knowledge to take frequent eye breaks. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends the “20-20-20 rule for adults who work on a computer. This rule suggests that individuals look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes of the day.”

A begrudging morning doesn’t need to set the tone for the day. Even if you have a great routine, it’s not always great. But things will unfold to bring you joy and meaning when you set up your life for goodness to flow.

by yojeanyi

Be dumb: how to struggle, learn, and cross apply strategies

People learn because they want to be competent, independent, discover, and challenge themselves. If something is too hard to learn, why do it?

A boulder might kill you to move, but breaking it into tiny rocks won’t. Without knowing it, what we learn starts to connect with things we know, making our life more interesting and dynamic.

Get comfortable with feeling dumb.

I initially began taking programming classes because I wanted to make my own website and I didn’t like the readymade options out there. I struggled in my first class, barely passing. The content was not only difficult, I was also feeling overwhelmed with how little I didn’t know in the field of Computer Science. That experience prepared me for the next class– I was ready to swim in my cold dumb state. Eventually the body warms up and takes you to the other side.

What does walking and learning have in common? The cross application of different continuity or endurance strategies. Then there’s running, which is just one step further than walking. When running, you create a rhythm between your breathing and body, a metronome for the experience. Thoughts have a hard time thriving. When learning gets difficult, intrusive thoughts insert themselves- observations, feelings, and inner monologue. When in deep concentration or focus, we unconsciously hold our breath. The oxygen deprived brain starts to dislike learning the new material. It hates computer science! It hates baking! When that happens I think about walking or running, just focusing on breathing and moving forward.

When I picked up guitar, my eyes would glaze over the music sheets, so I stuck to playing tab music. The extra effort in reading music was tedious. But to expand the repertoire of songs I could play, I began seriously viewing tutorials. Stripping the outcome from the experience, the tedium went away. Fingers and strings made sounds, and that’s all I needed to think about and enjoy.

Watching foreign TV shows is a great opportunity to write down vocabulary and grammar structures from subtitles. But watching the show takes twice, sometimes three times as long. I just want to find out if Suzy gets her revenge. When does learning hijack leisure? I asked myself, isn’t my recreational time sacred? But like going to a museum or touring a landmark, which I never questioned as both educational and recreational, I realized there were more opportunities to be killing two birds with one stone.

Being a novice at something is the start of growth. Not being a novice at anything is a good way to stay stagnant. People who want safety and comfort– what the learning process threatens– might pick up something and quickly lose interest when it gets difficult. So, to avoid this, enjoy feeling and being dumb.

People are smart, much more than they know.

And only a smart person would knowingly put themselves in situations where they would struggle or feel dumb. Continuously? This phase is just until you pass benchmarks of aptitude, then you get to really enjoy the subject that you’re mastering.