Now that fall is approaching and all of us are headed inside to desks and offices, summer a mere memory of the past, life seems to be moving all too fast. There are readings and assignments and applications, and only so many hours in the day. As you all get back into the groove of things and remember what time management is, I thought I’d remind you of a few other things that might help you during this transitional season, (just in case that new job is making it easy to forget things).
Drink Enough Water
Staying hydrated can be difficult when you’re always on the go, but it’s incredibly important for a healthy mind and body to drink about 2 liters of water a day, more if you’re working out. I recommend buying a reusable water bottle (it’s better for the environment, your health, and your wallet) and taking it with you wherever you go. If you see a place to refill your bottle and it’s only half empty, do it anyway, because you never know when or where you’ll run out of water. Trust me, if you’re doing a lot of thinking at your job/school, you’ll be a lot more focused if you’re hydrated.
It’s Okay to Not Know
Adults seem to put this pressure on teenagers and young adults to know what they want to be professionally so that they can start working for it now. Now as this blog is called dream.think.work, I’m all for finding your passion and pursuing it unashamedly, but let me just tell you right now it’s perfectly okay and normal to not know what you want to do in life. Does that make you feel a little better? Not knowing what you want to do is normal for people between the ages of 5 and 100, with those younger knowing that all they want to do is poop, eat, and sleep, and those older being too old to care anymore. I say just pick something you love doing now and say that’s what you want to do so that you can create some sort of path, but along that path if something you love even more comes along, don’t be afraid to change directions. It’s all about what you want.
Eat Well
Do not take your body for granted. It is a machine that needs proper fuel, not the kind that will leave it slow and heavy. Try to steer clear of highly processed foods, get your 3 servings of fruits and 3 servings of vegetables a day, make sure you’re getting enough protein to sustain you, and don’t avoid things like healthy fats that are actually good for you. Something that I’ve tried to avoid lately is processed sugar, it’s in everything! (Seriously, even bread). If you don’t put good things into your body, you won’t feel and perform your best throughout the day.
Do Things For You
Whether it’s taking a long bath with a bathbomb once a week or quitting your day job to commit to doing what you love full-time, make sure you’re doing things in life that will make you happy. It’s not about your parents or doing what’s practical all the time, it’s about making decisions that will make you happy now and later in life. Kiss someone, eat a chocolate bar, work a job that you know has a purpose in your life in the long run. As long as you aren’t hurting anyone, just enjoy life for what it is and can be.
Conserve Water
I’m from California, and we’re in an awful drought. No matter where you live in the world, it’s important to remember that clean water is not a limitless resource. In fact, many places in the world still don’t have access to it, and with the growing population it won’t help if those of us who do have it keep using it up rapidly. Plus, if we run out, do you want to be one of the people who never did anything about it?? Here are just a couple tips to help you conserve:
-Limit your showers. Make a 5-10min playlist that you listen to in the shower to know how long it’s been. I like to listen to “Papercut” by Zedd & Troye Sivan both because it’s fantastic and because it’s 7 minutes and 23 seconds long, which is just enough time for me to get the water hot, wash everything I need to wash, shave everything I need to shave, and get out.
-Reuse your shower/dish water. Keep a bucket in your shower and a bowl in your sink to catch extra water, and then use that to water your lawn or garden.
Get Enough Sleep
This is probably the one I struggle with the most, which is kind of ironic given that I love sleep more than most things in life. I know how easy it is to give up an extra hour here or there if it means getting that assignment done on time, or even just relaxing for an extra hour of your favorite show, but you should try your best to regulate your sleep schedule into a pattern of sleeping 8-10 hours every night. Sleeping helps your body restore itself so that you can perform your best each day; without enough of it you can lose focus, gain weight, and feel the weight of each day a lot harder than you need to.
It’s Okay to Mess Up
It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to royally screw something up beyond repair, because we all do it at some points in our lives. What’s important is that you learn and grow from those mistakes. Reflect on what happened and how to improve. You are not the sum of your mistakes alone, you are the sum of all of your actions, and for every mistake you make there will be at least 5 valuable things you do that will make everything worth it. You can get up again, I promise.
I hope you’re all doing well this Motivation Monday and achieving great things. I promise you can do it. x
dream.think.work. 