Thoughts of a forgotten mind

There are times in our lives when I believe it’s OK to stop, breathe for a while and enjoy the endeavors which surround us. There are other times when we get consumed by our day to day activities that we don’t give ourselves the chance of enjoying life happenings. It seems that it all comes down to having a balance; having the equilibrium of each aspect in our lives.

Too much work leads to living in a cycle that might lead to a stressed and not happy life, on the other hand too much fun leads to a life where in my opinion not much gets accomplished.

So what is the key for a life well balanced? Is there an ABC recipe I can follow? Will I ever be destined to work and not think about other stuff? Well, these past few weeks I started an experiment, and the first lesson I received was that having a balanced life takes a butt load of work. You need to plan and organize, especially if you have a lot of activities to accomplish in one day.

What I did was some kind of schedule, yes like the one I had as a kid so I could remember all the things I had to do, this includes everything, from waking up at 6:00 AM, through finishing a day perfectly at 10:00 PM. There are a lot of activities I included, but today I want to write about the ones that for me mean having a more balanced life:

Start with Breakfast and that is because throughout the years I started skipping it, but what I have learned is never skip breakfast, it really is the most important meal of the day, I started neglecting breakfast because I wanted to sleep more, but I wanted more sleep because the day before I stayed up late watching TV.

By the way don’t watch TV, I  know this sounds ugly, but really if you want to accomplish things in life don’t sit in your couch for 3 hours changing channels until you find something that amuses you, Is not that I don’t watch TV, but if I have a show I like, I make use of my DVR and tape it, then watch it over the weekends, plus I can skip the ads, which in my opinion are a waste of time and make me fat because I cannot control myself when I see that random Pizza advertisement.

Work Out, yes yes everybody tell us how exercise is great for our mind and body, and well it certainly is. Whenever I stop working out I feel tired, depressed and my mind doesn’t function as it should; you don’t have to join a gym if you don’t want to, there are tons of videos that can help you work out, or you can also walk outside, but do try moving your body at least 30 minutes every day.

Read before going to sleep, something you like and enjoy, it can be something funny, adventurous or spooky, try avoiding topics related to your work, because that time should help you relax and unwind from all the things you already did over the day.

Lastly find your passion, a couple of weeks ago I discovered that  mine is swimming, I used to swim while at college and discovered that was the only sport I did not suck at because a) I didn’t get hit with a ball in the head and b) I didn’t get hit with a ball in the head. The feeling that swimming and being underwater gives me, is nothing I can’t compare so I had added this activity to my Sunday’s it is part of my “me time”.

Understanding the Opportunity Cost in Our Lives

If you know something about Economics there might be a chance that you have heard about the “Opportunity Cost” term. If not don’t worry, you might have done it without knowing; when we talk about opportunity cost, it means that every decision we make in our lives is based on what must be give up to accomplish something (goals, tasks, etc.). There is always a cost, in the things we do; it can be time, money, energy, etc.

But how compromised are we to pay that Cost? What I mean is when you have something you want to accomplish so badly, how much are you willing to pay for it? In our lives we have dreams, goals and things we want to accomplish, let’s say that you want to buy this fantastic, awesome computer, but you don’t have enough money, doing your math you know that if you don’t go out for a month (to the movies, restaurants or shopping) you will be able to buy it. So in this case to be able to buy your computer you must give up going out for a month. Some people might say is preposterous but this is life, we cannot have everything and choosing is part of our lives.

Right now I am starting to understand that, you all know that I want to be healthy and I know that I will accomplish that by exercising and eating better (Losing weight is an extra). I joined a gym for all 2013 and have a calendar near my desk where I check every time I go to the gym and write my weight on Mondays. But I know that getting to this point took me a lot of years.

I think that I was not compromised enough to pay the cost of being healthy, but when you come from a family where all your grandparents had diabetes, you know you have to do something. These days, I really prefer taking the afternoon for going to the gym a couple of hours instead of sitting in my couch watching TV and eating junk food. I am paying the cost of being comfy in my home for hitting the gym and working out.

So here I want to give you some tips on how you can work with what you want for this year:

1. Know what you want (Have an Idea). It is possible that you want to do something, but don’t know what, work on something you want to accomplish this year. Learn something new, Run a Marathon, Lose Weight.

2. Write what you want (Put it in Paper). Now that you have your idea, build it up, if you write it down you can make it happen.

3. Have a plan. If you want to learn something new investigate how you can do that, are there any classes you can take? If you want to run a Marathon, You know you have to start training, investigate how you can do that and plan your hours with the time you have available.

4. Surround with People with the same ideals. If you want to lose weight, it might not be a good idea to be with people who love eating junk food. Try to make friends with the same ideals; odds are that if you have a gym partner it will be easier to go, than alone.

5. Measure. You need to have something to measure your progress; in my case I have my trusty calendar.

6. Are we finished yet? Make sure you know when to finish, for instance I know I need to lose 44 pounds to reach my goal. If you know when you have to finish you can calculate how much time will it take you.

7. Don’t give up. We all have good and bad days, but the important thing here is never give up, like one of my trainers says, it doesn’t matter how many times you fall the important thing is to get up again.

So I hope this has been helpful for you, I know it is hard sacrificing something, but when you see that your goal is beginning to come true, it is all worth it.

Until Next Time,

Losing Weight: Week 9 Update

The other day I was reading my daily love mail I receive, and in it they touched a very deep subject that I think I’ve been going through lately. The subject was “One thing YOU MUST DO before setting a Goal” Ok you all know that on the beginning of this year I set my losing weight goal, and on and off I’ve been kind of accomplishing the same. But still, I was trying to analyze why I cannot get to the point where I can accomplish my weekly goals, and why I keep sabotaging my own success.

Why raising your standards makes you a better person?

I remember being only a teenage when I had all these questions in my mind. What am I supposed to do? Am I living a good life? Should I fight for my dreams? Should I do my best? Is it Ok to enjoy my life and try to be happy? Do I even deserve happiness? A tough couple of questions for someone who’s just going through high school, but yet, a remembrance that I was alive and was curious about what life could be.

My discovery to a new life

So yesterday I was doing my usual You Tube visit; I must admit I am a big fan of this site, I get amazed of all the things you can see and learn, but specially, my guilty pleasure are beauty related videos. Anyways, while making a research I came with a video which in some way inspired me a lot in my life and made me think that most of the times I hold myself back from doing things.

What Life am I Creating Today?

For several weeks now I’ve been insanely immersed in this website called The Daily Love, thanks to my cousin A for introducing me to it, I have found in certain way a path to dig into my own deep feelings and find the inspiration for writing that has been hiding for the past months. I have been meaning to write about it, but somehow the moment did not seem right for me.