Day 8 of 31: Be Happy!

Now and then its good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

-Guillaume Apdlmaire

That's exactly what I am going to do tonight, just chill, watch TV, and be happy!  Hope you all have and/or had a great day!

Day 7 of 31: Morning Routine

A couple of weeks ago I was reading a personal finance book and I came across a section that really spoke volumes to me. I can’t remember what it said verbatim, but it discussed how we start our day and the effect that it can have on us. It gave an excellent example of how getting up earlier, would eliminate buying coffee at a coffee shop and thus save you $100 a month/$1000 yearly. 

With a full time job, full time grad program, internship that is like a part time job and 2 blogs; I need to find time to do it all and create some sort of social life (hell I want a man… LOL).

I have come to the conclusion that if I can get my day started in the right direction, not only will it help financially, but also mentally, spiritually and physically. Now that I know there is a problem, it’s time to come up with a formula to garner a solution.  After reading several blog posts and articles about the effects of developing a morning routine, I thought....hmmmm this is exactly what I need for my problem.  

Current morning routine:

I go to bed at midnight or later.  I am SUPPOSE TO wake up at 5/5:30, but I hit the snooze button (or turn it off) until my 6am alarm goes off.  I jump up, get dress, grab items needed and run out the door to head to work (no breakfast).  Luckily I am only 10 mins from my place of employment, but trying to get to at 6:30 ALWAYS feel like l am in a high speed car chase.  Thus throughout the day I am hungry, cranky and plain ole exhausted.

For the rest of the month I plan to do the following in order to develop a better morning  routine:

1. No internet after 10pm!
2. Prepare the night before and go to bed at a decent time (aim to get 7-8 hrs of sleep).
3. For the rest of the month I aim to wake up 30 minutes earlier.
4. DO NOT HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON!
5. Take 3-5 minutes to meditate, pray and/or to read an entry of a daily devotional/bible.
6. Do 15 minutes of Yoga or Stretch from the Daily Burn.
7. Eat Breakfast.
8. Shower and get dress.
9. Plan out my day.
10. Leave 10 minutes earlier than I usually would. 

Being that I am not a morning person, this will be a difficult habit to develop, but I am positive that I can accomplish it by the end of the month!  I will be back in September with an update. 

Day 6 of 31: Procrastination, Tired and Lazy

I briefly stated in another post that I suffer from procrastination.  However sometimes I cannot tell the difference between procrastination, tired and laziness.   Procrastination is the act of putting off something while laziness is being slow moving and indolent and we all know what tired mean so no need for a definition.  Let’s take today as an example:

After working 11 hours today on 5 hours of sleep, I hopped in bed, checked Instagram, Vine and watched Youtube videos on Yard Locs and Marley braids. I knew I needed to get up and start working on posts not only for today, but also for tomorrow so that I can get a step ahead and have good momentum. But noooooo I just laid around. Why is that?

Am I procrastinating, being lazy or am I just plain ole tired?

Day 5 of 31: Epiphany

Today (okay tonight) will be short and sweet.

As you all know, I am in the process of "discovering" who exactly I am and what I want to do.

Well today I had an epiphany!!!  I know what I want to ultimately do with my life...

Stay tuned........

Day 4 of 31: How I spent my Sunday

internet, good book and DVR full of shows

The picture above shows how I spent my Sunday.  In bed doing nothing.  That’s right ALL THE PLANS I had for today went nowhere and you know what…. I don’t feel bad about it. Usually around this time Sunday night (9:30pm), I get angry at myself for not doing anything I had set out for the day to do. Now I am coming to a stage where I ask myself:

• Was it a life or death matter?
• Was it an assignment that needed to be done?
•  Did I promise anyone something for today?

Usually the answer is “no”. With that being said, why do I feel so bad about not doing anything? Yes I do know that I have a problem with procrastination, but should I truly feel bad about taking a day where I just rest?  And why is it only Sundays when I feel like this?  I learned this summer that I can truly be stretched to the max and survive it.  However if I choose to take a day out of the week where I just “rest”, I end up beating myself up about it. It is something I am still wrapping my head around.

Back in the day (pre 2009) I use to use Sundays as “prep day”, meaning that I would wash clothes, clean the house, iron my clothes for the week, and prepare lunches for the week for work. Currently none of that exist and I now know that it is (or was) due to my depression.  Which I guess also explains why I feel so bad (guilty) about my lazy Sundays. Now that I am finally seeing the light at the end of this depression tunnel, I guess I expect myself to hop right back into my old routine. 

However just like with my “negative thoughts”, my habit of lying in bed (in a depressive state) all day will not change overnight.  I am now at the point where I am no longer depress, the next step is….. being happy AS WELL AS being still.  Hell as of late I have been working 50 hour weeks in addition to summer school and 24 hr internship on the weekends. I should be welcoming these lazy Sundays when I get them.  LOL…

Behavior doesn’t change overnight. Just by going into the closet and picking out items that I haven’t worn in months (okay years) shows that either the old Neka is coming back or the new and improved one underway.  I am no longer going to stress over resting my body before I dive into the new week.  Instead I am going to enjoy the peaceful day and “be still”. 

Day 3 of 31 of Writing Challenge

This challenge like EVERYTHING else I try to do make me realize that ONCE AGAIN I am awesome at planning and horrible at “following through”.  It is day 3 and I have yet taken the time to curve out time and actually focus on anything I had planned to do today. What have I done you may ask, well……. I am currently watching “Orange is the New Black”.  That’s right, television!  My addiction for television is a post within itself for another time.  Nevertheless below is a picture of my potential post list for both blogs…. That’s right I have made a “plan” on how I want this month to go…. Let’s see if I actually follow through!  LOL!

Day 2 of 31 Day Writing Challenge

Here it is day 2 and I am barely getting this post in before 10pm! SMH... I am soooo going to do well at this challenge huh??!! LOL.. 

Seriously though, I just found out about it yesterday and haven't truly gotten a grasp of how I want the next 29 days to go.

I basically moved everything off the desk and drawers and threw it on my couch and floor!

Take a look of the picture above.  This is currently my living room and office area at the end of the spring/summer semester.  I don't know about everyone else, but I cannot possibly do anything or try and start anything before I get organized with this chaos.  

Being that tomorrow is my first weekend of freedom (school is over and no intern), I plan to get TRULY organized and get some damn structure in my life!

Therefore, I need to get that mess in the picture together and come up with a list of topics to write about for BOTH blogs.  

31 Day Blog Challenge DAY ONE

Here I go again.... LOL

I know I know... I didn't get pass the first five days in the 30 day blog challenge in June, why do I expect to get through this one.  I don't know, but hey... let's try and find out shall we??? LOL!  

The wonderful Luvvie at "Awesomely Luvvie" is hosting a 31 day blog challenge.  Since summer school ended for me on Monday, I felt this would be an awesome chance to get back into the swing of things (things means reading and writing). What is even crazier is that I will also be participating in the challenge on my book blog as well!!! 

The rules are simple:

1. Put up a new post on your blog at least once a day for the next 31 days.
2. The posts can be written in advance.
3. Use the hashtag #31writenow when you tweet the link to your posts.