Day 45 / 108 Challenge

#45

"I bow to try to obtain deep wisdom."

Today marks my first day back since my temporary move-out. I will have to get used to preparing the house to look presentable every morning I leave, but that should be worth saving me from having to pay extra rent.

Not an exciting day, as I continued on completing the daily tasks throughout the day. I decided to go for an outdoor walk for today's exercise portion, despite the unpleasant weather. I cannot say that the walk was entirely great, but I definitely felt the creative juice flowing in my brain while putting some oxygen up there as well.

I swear that exercising (or moving around, at least) is by far the most important aspect in improving our lives.

It is an instant mood up-er once you get used to it.

The end result of yesterday's crafting project

I now actively attempt to analyze my thoughts and behaviours every day, and try to write about what I discovered or learned. Today's reflection is on my abrupt mood swings.

From what I could remember, my day was going smoothly. Like I mentioned earlier, I was simply getting things done that I needed to do today. However, all of a sudden, I started to feel a little down and felt that my mood was spiralling downwards even further. I caught myself wanting to eat and drink more when I did not really need to.

I then began to track down why I started to feel this way.

It took me awhile, but I 1) figured out why, 2) dealt with the emotion, and 3) brought myself back to a "neutral" state.

I came to a conclusion that it was the quick dopamine spike from getting the instant reply from my girlfriend, followed by not getting the follow up responses that put me in that spot. Eating and drinking something is a common way to release dopamine, and I was just looking for another source of dopamine release.

It seems like a common way for someone to unnecessarily feel sad too, because in reality, nothing is really going wrong. It just seems relatively bad compared to that high dopamine state. This is why I regularly practice dopamine detoxing, just so that I do not need to do extreme activity (usually comes with bigger downfall/consequences) to "feel happy" all the time.

An example of my dopamine detoxing is, not binge watching videos when I am bored. I just painfully stay bored until I find something productive like studying or reading, or healthier options like exercise or reaching out to a family member or a friend to chat.

(My girlfriend likes to call this "raw dogging life" and I find it so funny, I don't know why.)

Going back to the story: Once I realized all that, I was able to stop the spiral, and focus on the present, where nothing was going bad. So why must I feel sad? And there, I was no longer in a down mood.

The practice of self-analyzing is so much fun and inspiring as we get to discover ourselves further and control our own emotions. Having the extra sense of control in life makes life much more peaceful, thus making it easier for us to stay happy. 😊

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No Snacks
Water intake (max 2L)	2L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Read Ch 12
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	REST DAY - outdoor walk
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(EXERCISE) More walks

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- Proud of you for what you did today. You could have written a journal as soon as you got back to the hotel after date night.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 3

Day 44 / 108 Challenge

#44

"I bow to avoid making foolish mistakes out of ignorance."

Full disclosure, I am posting this about 8 hours late. The day was filled with actions.

In the morning, I enjoyed some steam room and hot tub time as soon as I woke up. Then I headed to the office to heat up my breakfast. I wanted to unload some of my luggages early at home, so when I checkout of a hotel and return to home I would have less to carry. However, closer to being home I realized I left my keys in the hotel. Not to worry though, because I have lockbox for all the house showings. I initially approached the security by being nice and asking for a favour, but he was not cooperating at all. I had to switch to being more assertive, so I could do what I needed to do before people started showing up for the house showing. After going back and forth few times, I got the keys.

I am reflecting on this a lot, because I wanted to think if that was the right choice. Was I being too pushy? Was that the best way to handle the situation? These were the thoughts going through my mind this morning.

My conclusion is, yes, that was the best way to handle it.

First, I opened up with a warm feeling, and asked him nicely to see if he could do me a favour. Looking at what happened in the end, we both realized that we could have saved each other tough feelings and 10 minutes of our lives if he just did what I asked him to do.

Second, sometimes you need to be assertive to make things happen. Anything is possible (especially in this level of complexity in the scenario), and the issue is whether both parties agree on pursuing or not.

** This part of self improvement is new to me, but I am very proud of how far I have come. If it was me last year, I would have just given up and had the inconvenience negatively affect my day. However, after going through challenges, and having to learn to navigate through obstacles in life, I am stronger than ever. This is by far the most noticeable improvement (as a man) at this time of my life.

Lastly, I ran possible scenarios in my head that would have avoided asking for the key in the lockbox. If I had enough time I would have gone back to the hotel and grabbed the key. The fact that I thought about alternatives before going through with the necessary friction makes me believe that it was the right choice.

There are of course things that I could have done better. 1) I should have brought the keys with me. 2) I should have built better relationship with the security staff, so they are more lenient.

Buddy just hit 210 yards with a pitching wedge

After all this, I played some indoor golf with my friends, and I made sure I got some studying in so that I can spend the rest of the day fully with my girlfriend. And man, am I glad that I did so. Initially, I thought we just needed to grab few party supplies, but it turned into multi-hour crafting session to create some backdrop for the photo booth.

As much crafting was painful was it was, blood and sweat (and possibly some tears) have gone into this, it was accomplishing looking at the end result. Plus, we got some good outdoor walks in and spent quality time together. The activity itself means very little to me compared to the fact that we are in the same space doing something together.

The only downside was that I missed my journalling after all this, but there will always be room for improvement in my life anyways. Still I am very content with the way I live my life these days, and I cannot wait to see the kind of person I become after continuing these practices. I genuinely feel that I am becoming a better person every day.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No Snacks
Water intake (max 2L)	2L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Ch 10, 11, 12 review
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	REST DAY - outdoor walk
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(READ) More exam review (PRODUCE) Floral backdrop for photo booth

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- Proud of you for what you did today. You could have written a journal as soon as you got back to the hotel after date night.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 0

Day 43 / 108 Challenge

#43

"I bow to know that suffering comes from an attached mind."

I cannot remember when was the last time I slept this peacefully. Blackout curtains seem like one of the necessities in getting a good quality of sleep.

I got studying and exercising out of my way the first thing in the morning. I attempted a mock exam in preparation of the real one in two weeks. Solid results. As long as I keep reviewing materials until the due date, I should be fine. One less thing to worry about now.

I left my afternoon fairly open, and since I completed the daily challenge before noon, I decided to give myself a little recovery time. After all, my body was requesting for one anyway. In the evening, I was craving sushi so I searched a new restaurant I had never been to and went to dine-in by myself. Walking there and back, and tasting food were amazing. Helping few lost visitors in the city was fulfilling as well.

I made sure to spend some time catching up with my friends and family throughout the day too. I find that it takes SO LITTLE of your effort, and yet gives you tremendous amount of return in having good relationships.

Today, I am grateful of who I am as a person. One that cares about himself, and others who he loves by being a better version of himself every day. I notice more and more that if I become the person who others like to have around, good people will surround me naturally.

Journalling will help me keep being that person. Recording my daily thoughts and feelings reminds myself of what is needed to be that good person.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No Snacks
Water intake (max 2L)	2L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Mock exam
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	PULL DAY 1. Chin-ups +45/70/80/90lb 5-3-1.5-1 2. DB row 90lb 4x6 3A. BB curl 90lb 4x4 3B. Skull crusher 35lb 4x8 4A. DB pull over 70lb 6-6-6-5 4B. DB bench press 40lb 4x6 5. Hanging leg raises + 30s boat hold 5x10
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(READ) Mock exam result review

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- Proud of you for what you did today. You could have studied more, but you will have time in between golf and date night tomorrow.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 0