CHANGE OF HABITS

 It is very common for people to have new year resolutions and try and do things differently. For example, exercising more often, eating healthy, or focusing on achieving more career or academic goals. I can recall certain habits that I have changed gradually over the years that have helped me have more peace of mind.

News addiction: I come from a Middle Eastern country, and there is always something happening either in the Middle East, like a new war, terrorist attack, or something happening in the west that might affect us indirectly. I lived with my grandparents up until my late twenties, and I often found them sitting in front of the TV watching various news channels and drinking tea. After immigration, this habit remained with me to try and be on top of the SA local news and the international news using various channels. After finishing my registrar training, being extremely burnt out and tired and pregnant, I stopped listening to any news on my car radio and stopped streaming different international channels. It is the worst thing to do while rushing to work in traffic and listening to mostly negative news and endless adverts on the radio. I spend that time wisely listening to various educational podcasts or a calming playlist.

Social media: I developed a very toxic relationship with social media, especially after immigration and having no filtering on Facebook and other channels. I remember back in 2013 while I was sitting at home waiting for my HPCSA registration, I would wake up early in the morning, feed the cat and go to the loft area where the family desktop was. Switch on the computer and scroll on Facebook. It was around when most of my friends were getting married and doing exciting things in life. I would start my day scrolling and feeling miserable about life. Later on I had my own smartphone and also joined Instagram and the scrolling continued. First thing before showering and making my morning tea  would be scrolling, trying not to miss anything. Around the same burnt out state of mind I had in 2021, I took a 3 week break from Facebook and Instagram. I limited my scrolling to 10 minutes per day and avoided them on weekends completely, and rather spent my time reading books or any other productive activity.

Retail therapy: this was a terrible trait of me and my mother. Going out and buying whatever was on sale and whatever looked nice and cute. The consequence of that is a dysfunctional wardrobe where you actually have nothing proper to wear and a very cluttered house. I have stopped that. I assess my clothes now and know exactly what I need for that season. I do not just buy something because it is on sale. I go for quality, more practical style, and solid colours and match easily.

I am hoping to work towards my terrible trait of being a people pleaser, have more boundaries with work, friends, and family, and stop venting to people and over sharing my life.

 



 

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