Been watching lots of YouTube educational videos on chemistry, organic chemistry, physics and electronics lately in addition to getting back into reading fiction consistently. Effectively, I’m auditing an old physics class from UCI, which makes me feel like I’m back in class again (hence, justifying my position that I’ve returned to school). And it’s been great.
I felt as though my last job numbed my brain and made me lazy. I was not intellectually stimulated and frustrated constantly, which resulted in bitterness and apathy. My current hiatus from the rat race of corporations has allowed me to imbibe knowledge at my own pace, which means that I can go as fast or slow as I desire.
And I do feel as though I am getting smarter because even just reviewing elementary chemistry has helped reinvigorate my mind and just get the old neurons firing. Also, I find the YouTube channel for which I am subscribed helps put into a better perspective lessons long forgotten from high school.
One thing that has helped to keep my mental energy up is my change in dietary habits. First, I have greatly decreased my intake of fast food. Right now, I probably will only go out for a fast food run once per week. While the temptation is there, I am forcing myself to use my willpower to avoid late night runs.
Another thing is that I have been regularly having a very small breakfast in the morning with a bagel, cream cheese and occasionally smoked salmon along with some pod coffee (almond milk and some sugar). A few hours later, I will make myself a snack of a juice smoothie with a daily vitamin. I feel these things have greatly increased my mental energy and has slowly helped my constant weariness that I felt while having a job.
Lastly, I’m slowly transitioning into healthier cooking. This does not happen every night, but I re-discovered my Sanyo electric indoor roaster, where I’ve made steak and salmon thus far. In both cases, I complimented those meals with boiled frozen broccoli and some baked break served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
These small things I do feel a pretty positive change overall in terms of my energy level. Probably, the main thing I’m lacking is intense exercise. Walking to the market 2-3 times per week has helped but it’s very minor compared to what I need.
I did order an exercise balance ball from Amazon to help with my back problems. I might try employing it for other things such as working on my laptop. If that works out, I might think about purchasing a second one for my balcony so that I can enjoy more sunlight, which I believe I am sorely lacking these days.
The thing that I am missing from my routine is better floor management. My floors are still quite dirty and it’s something that I need to deal with. Maybe not on a daily basis but probably once every other week or so. I probably will need to pick up a broom because my balcony has built up considerable dirt and I want to avoid that if I decide to purchase another exercise ball.
Reading and writing-wise, I am doing okay. Currently, I am roughly at 25-50 pages a day. The difficult part is determining the right amount to read. Both books are dense with one being very verbose with smaller text but easier to comprehend while the other (Gibson) requiring a higher degree of concentration to keep the details straight.
Now, I say determining the right amount to read because reading does tire my eyes out. So if I want to write a prolific amount, I need to ensure that my brain doesn’t become too overloaded and thereby worn out by the time I’m ready to produce. Thus, I might try something different as part of my routine where I write earlier and read later.
The idea with this new strategy is to see if I can produce earlier while I have a higher degree of energy and relax my mind while gathering ideas later at night. I don’t know if this will work since I find it easier to be productive later at night with less distractions (and the fact that it’s cooler and quieter overall). But this is all about a work in progress.