Grind hustle repeat
Most of you are familiar with that. I was that too, grinding and hustling but in a different way. As a freelancer, there is almost no distinction between work week vs the actual weekend. It was easy to drag the job to the weekend and makes you forget that life is not all about working. Even as productive as Elon Musk, he still get his Sunday off, at least according to many videos and interviews I watched on him. So that made me re-evaluate my life. Have I been productive enough running my life without clear distinction between work and play days?
My experience this week have taught me that I really had no concept about day & date & time. I learned that I have been dragging my work into the weekend and not having a dedicated day to push all the work aside. That resulting in more unproductive days than productive day. So far, I have wasted about 3 weeks not doing anything meaningful to fix my life. My sleeping was awful, I constantly get haunted by work that seemed endless, I was more anxious than ever before.
The clear distinction is seen when I constantly worried about all the works I have not done and how little productivity I actually get. It didn't give me any sense of accomplishment and further dragged me down into the gutter.
Lack of structure contributes to this. I was fairly structured last year until my life slowly crumbling and falling apart. I neglected most of things I enjoyed, my hobbies, and so many other things in my life that actually makes me happy. The last two days experience, helped me get back into the loop again.
I wrote earlier that I wanted to be offline for 48 hours. Was it easy? it was not. If being online means being cut off from communication with friends and family, then, I was not offline. I was still online. But yes, I did minimize the time checking my twitter. Now, I don't miss twitter as much as I used to. How did I entertain myself then? I watched old movies, I read a book, watched documentaries and sewing some of my torn-out clothes. I tried not to touch any work related or think about it.
That was not easy. I got anxiety and scare when I didn't touch my laptop and doing little work that I called as "productive". But I succeed not touching any of it. I was more than pumped up to get into Monday and start working. As result, I went to bed early. Normally, it was difficult for me to sleep around 10 PM but I did. I was able to sleep at 10 PM and woke up early. Personally, I am not one to sleep a lot since it tends making me feel sluggish and lazy.
So, what did I do during my 48 hours no social-media detox?
I read a book.
I tried to finish two books but it was not feasible. I ended up not finishing both but close to finish. I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and one The Secret dream world of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. Both are quite easy to read and rather amusing. I don't think I will make my work day into reading days because that would make it harder for me to actually concentrate on my actual tasks.I watched documentaries
Lately, I try to get into my old habit, watching documentaries. I was a history buff. Now I am trying to refresh my memory on some historical events. The first documentary I watched was about the knight templar. I dived into their story and very amazed of their focus, discipline and their loyalty which helped them amass wealth. Not to mention, as of today, their wealth disappearance remains a mystery.
I watched old TV series
Though I have a small collection of movies and TV series, I have some that I liked such as lucifer, game of thrones and agents of shield. I feel as though, I never get bored watching them all over again. Some shows are just so incredible that it's never boring to watch them all over again. Though, I did once quite hooked on Korean Drama, I feel as though if I can't re-watch them when I finish watching them.Lastly, I planned my month.
These last two days were the end of the month. Unlike many months before, I did not have any plan and just cruising my days. But lately since I also take fancy into enneagram, I learned that my type enjoys structure and organization. I thrive on those and details, which was quite true. I feel at best with structure and organization since this would give me more stability and ready as in what to expect about my days and be prepared.
That was how I spent my weekend. I was also inspired by the idea of Shabbat. It is a jewish tradition which meaning "rest" and can also be translated as "ceasing from work". There are some restrictions during Shabbat which last after Friday's dawn to the next day. The following activities encouraged includes studying, reading, socializing and singing, spending time with loved ones and sleeping.These seems to be peaceful and is making sense to spend Friday night to the next day to rest and do other activities. Though this activities are not new to me, I have been out of it for a while. I suppose, I will see more differences next week in contrast to 3 weeks I spent on limbo.
~ Mac
I think it would be a good idea for most people to do "online detoxes".
I went through something similar just the other way around.
I was spending too much time online and was wasting my time to do some produtive, so I also scaled back a lot.
Deleted Instagram
Started to read more
Meditated
Went for walks
Etc.
It was really beneficial for me :D
What are books would you recommend, randomly?
Twitter makes up a bigger chunk now than before, but thats because of Hive aswell xD
I mainly just look at twitter xD
Well, it depends on what kinda book you wanna read.
I don't read fiction books, only non-fictions.
I am currently reading "Superlife - Darin Olien" its just an amazing book about nutrition and health!
Another book could be the "Code of the Extraordinary mind - Vishen Lakhiani" :D
Perfect!! I read too many fiction books and also journals. Not many non-fictions but will look into those two. I'll put them on this week read, hopefully they are easy to find 😄
It took me 3 weeks to get Superlife to Denmark, because they had to order it from the USA xD
So depending on there you live, then maybe its easy :p
found the kindle version !
Thats much much easier haha :p
I just wanted the phycial book :p
Lol Shabbat is also supposed to be no electricity too but I guess only really religious people do that. I think it’s a cool idea though
I don’t think there is any rule for how to balance work and play, you just have to find your rhythm. For me I prefer working more days a week for fewer hours. So I don’t mind working 7 days a week if it can lighten my work load during the week. Basically I just need some time every day or at least every other day to spend however I feel at that moment.
Exactly. The religious strict ones do it without electricity. Shabbat reminds me of a specialized day in Hinduism but it's only once a year unlike Jewish. This tradition was something new I learned which I think is amazing. It reminds us to rest and not caught up with worldly stuff.
Very impressive, but would you be able to do 48 hours no screens detox? ;)
Yes. I did it about last year by doing Vipassana. It's really not a problem I suppose but there are many things to take care of this time. Still, looking forward into doing it again this December 🙂
@macchiata, When we are passionate about something it inspire us to push hard no matter what are the circumstances.
But at the same time it's have a drawback and that is sometimes we forget to enjoy life by putting Work Space aside.
Enjoy your time ahead and stay blessed.
Yeah, balance is a bit tricky but doable !
True.
I edited the Turkish version of Shopaholic years ago, and I remember how I laughed out loud many times while reading. Its translation was also okay, so it was one of the most enjoyable readings for me.
I know too well that how being a freelancer makes you forget the weekends, holidays, etc. You are organizing your time - a smart move! After many years, my only solution is still to refuse some works to have free time. And it is not a solution at all!
Been there done that. It's definitely not a solution ! I think having a clear distinction works and planning everything too.