These are some of the things that happened in my life lately:
🐢I feel like I’ve slowed down this week, which is good. After the week with COVID-19 when I was forced to slow down to rest and recover, I want to bring that slowness to my life going forward. That means really disconnecting from work when I’m not working, enjoying simple things, prioritizing sleep, doing less. I’m with that vibe now.
⚕️My post-COVID headaches are still with me, some days were worse than others. But I’m seeing some improvement these past couple of days. They are not as bad as they were last week and over the counter Ibuprofen and sinus medication works. Taking breaks from screens also works. I went to see a doctor and they don’t really know why these headaches occur, there is no real treatment, and it seems to be a post-COVID thing. I will monitor for one more week. Hopefully, it gets better with more time.
🩺I finally got my iron IV infusion done. It’s a treatment for anemia that I do every 2-3 years to raise my ferritin levels because food or oral supplementation never works with me. All went well, there was no side effects or reactions after the application (which takes 2 hours), so that’s great! This time my doctor prescribed a new formulation of iron, and it was okay.
👟It got cold this week again with negative temperatures, so I didn’t run outside. I did go to the gym twice this week. My most regular exercise has been my yoga sessions in the morning these days.
🎮I started my little farm in Stardew Valley with the 1.6 game update that was released this week! I chose the new farm type Meadowlands: it has a chewy blue grass that animals love. Between yesterday and today I played 1 hour and a half, so I'm still in the very beginning. I can't play for too long because of the post-Covid headaches. But it's such a cozy, calming and beautiful game! It has this awesome passionate developer and it's impressive how the community around it is still alive after, what, 8 years? Amazing💜.
📌Interesting Online Reads This Week
Blog What You Like ❤️: On how blogging can be relaxing and an authentic experience. It's a call to write what we want to write, whatever we like and be real.
A Society That Lost Focus: an essay with reflections about how technology is impacting our focus as a society. But also, attention economy, privacy, and the need to slow down for deeper reflections.
Did I Read That? : Some thoughts about reading and finishing books. It's all about the experience of being in another person's mind. But we don't need to finish books we are not enjoying (unless we want to!).
Being a Bilingual Is Like Having a Double Identity: I saw myself in this post talking about how we create different mini personas when we are bilingual. In my case it's Portuguese and English. It's not like we have separate set of values in each language, but we do small adaptations to ourselves depending on the language we are speaking.
These are some of the things that happened in my life lately:
🩺It was my first full week after I tested negative for COVID-19 and I’m still having some headaches and I still wake up with my sinus blocked. It’s worse in the morning, but after I take an antihistamine and Ibuprofen I feel better. I will monitor it for one more week and see if the symptoms persist. Limiting screen time helps as well.
⛸️Ice Skating lessons are over, but I still plan to go to the rink public sessions on Sundays until they are open.
🏃♀️Outdoors running season is open! We are having afternoons with temperatures around 10C, so me and my partner went out for our first outside runs of the year:
Mar 12 – Tuesday: 5.18km / 37min 44s
Mar 13 – Wednesday: 5.20km / 36min 57s
Mar 15 – Friday: 6.19km / 43min 55s
📖I finished a romantasy book that I wasn't enjoying too much (A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout). I could have stopped reading it but I really wanted to see where it would go, because it's a prequal to a series I've already read. Note to self: I'm tired of vampire-like stories for now.
📖I'm 18% in the book The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield. It's advertised as a thriller but honestly, I got bored with it. Maybe I'll finish it next week. I will give it another try.
♟️After looking more into Chess I found out it's not what I was looking for. It's a very interesting game, but I found it to be too much cognitive work and I wasn't having fun with it. Which leads me to my next points...
🎮I looked into options for games that would make me relax. Right now, I am tired of the huge triple-A games with realistic graphics and high stakes. I was looking for a peaceful experience with a bit of a challenge. Something like the old SimCity's came to mind. But I had the game Banished on my Steam, and I played it again. That's the vibe I was going for. I searched for similar games and found 2 more: Dorfromantik and ISLANDERS, which are described as “peaceful city builders”. So I played Banished for a while up until I could get through 2 winters without letting the villagers die. And today I played Dorfromantik which is such a lovely and calming game! I haven't tried ISLANDERS yet, but it seems it's the same vibe.
🎮I mentioned my quest to find relaxing games with my partner and he mentioned Stardew Valley which is next on my list!!
These are some of the things that happened in my life lately:
😷After a week with COVID-19, I finally tested negative yesterday and I’m feeling much better. I still have the occasional dry cough and some headache, tho. I became super sensitive to bright screens, which triggered these horrible migraines.
💻I changed my blog’s theme to be adjusted according to the reader’s preference of light or dark modes. I’m currently using all dark themes on all my apps, but for some people the light mode is more accessible. Thanks to Joel for pointing me to this CSS option!
📺I finished watching this series on Curiosity Stream: The Story of Europe with historian Dr. Christopher Clark. It was a lot to cover in 6 episodes, but it was nice to have this overall view and be reminded of all the ups and downs. It is critical of all the horrific colonization endeavours in the Americas and Africa. It discusses the great wars and how much of the European culture was forced into other nations. But I found the overall tone of the documentary being positive, celebrating the achievement of the European Union institution as a way to foster peace among countries.
🎮I had this urge to play some puzzle or city-building type of game. I re-downloaded the game Banished on my computer. I remember it was a relaxing game to me, yet very engaging with the right amount of challenge. I’ve always liked resource management and building cities (ie. SimCity). I’ll spend some time playing Banished this weekend.
These are some of the things that happened in my life lately:
⛸️I’m feeling more comfortable skating backwards. I still do it slowly, and I started doing some backwards C-pushes on the circle: it’s very hard for me to do them with my left leg, tho! I have only one more ice skating lesson this season, but I’ll continue to go on the public skating sessions until they are available.
🩺I finally got an appointment with a Hematologist to discuss my chronic anemia. Since oral supplements aren’t doing much to raise my Ferritin levels, I will do an iron infusion next week. I used to have to do these infusions every 2 or 3 years back in Brazil, so I finally got a prescription to do them here in Canada. I hope this will help with my energy levels and overall mood. I’ve been feeling very tired lately.
👟I enrolled for my first running event of the year. I want to do 10K this year! During the winter I do some treadmill running at the gym, but I find it super boring. Temperatures are getting positive now so I will start running outside again! (and get to that 10K!).
📅Time Blocking (alongside GTD) continues to be my compass at work. Without it, I will get overwhelmed and lose focus. I've had some days when my attention was all scattered (usually on a Monday morning) and by noon I realized I haven’t planned my time blocks. I’m still using Cal Newport’s time block planner; I really like the spiral bound format.
🧩I spent a lot of my free time doing puzzles this week. Got the Dragon one almost done!
These are some of the things that happened in my life lately:
⛸️I’ve made progress! I can do forward crossovers now! One side is better than the other, but I overcame my fear of crossing my feet over! I will say that figure skates feel much better. I can find my balance on them.
🍅I’ve been reading some articles about distraction and ADHD, and one thing that comes up quite frequently is the Pomodoro Technique. I’ve known it for years, and I’ve used it whenever I needed focus. It was extremely useful back in the day when I was writing my master’s dissertation. I couldn’t have finished writing that dissertation without it. Nowadays I’m trying to use it at work as well and I find that the Clock app in Windows works pretty well.
☃️We finally got some snow this week!
💤It’s a long weekend and I’m taking time to rest a lot. I’ve been reading but also, I am doing more meditation sessions. I started reading this book Practical Meditation: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide by Giovanni Dienstmann to get back to the basics. I’ve been feeling more introspective these days and I am missing more quiet moments.
These are some of the things that happened in my life lately:
⛸️ I tried figure skates for the first time, and I prefer them. I can keep a slightly more upright posture and that feels way better for my low back. I also feel more stable and less afraid of falling backwards every time I try to do something new. The first couple of times with figure skates I feel because I tripped on the toe picks, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.
♟️Last week I finished a romance book by my favorite author: “Check & Mate” by Ali Hazelwood. I just want to learn how to play chess now! I've been doing the beginner lessons on lichess.org and I bought a course at Udemy to dive deeper. I still don't know exactly how I am going to fit another hobby in my life. I'll take it slowly.
📚 I've been reading a book for my Book Club but I was not too thrilled about it (“Master of Djinn”). I'm 90% done. I got into a small book slump the past two weeks, I did not want to read a second book alongside this one. I can't wait to finish it and move on.
🎭 I've been reading about ADHD and had a conversation with my therapist about it. I never went after a diagnosis, but every time I read about it I feel like I have ADHD tendencies. Not everything that I read applies to me, but some things do. And that has led me to rethink the way I organize myself and how to make my life easier, specially at work. Things like the Pomodoro technique and Time Blocking really works for me. Also having lists that are more interesting to look at. I've been getting on and off with Microsoft To Do and I'm now realizing it would be a good fit for me. More on that later.
📺 I enjoyed a documentary on Curiosity Stream about Knights (medieval knights, armour, swords, bows).
⛸️I got a bit frustrated with ice skating this weekend. I’ve been thinking about trying a pair of figure skates. Mine are the recreational ones (K2 Alexis Ice Boa), with lots of padding and smart lacing system. I got around 3 years ago because my first pair was hurting my feet A LOT! I was talking to some ladies in my class with figure skates, and they said they are way more stable (hence, easier for beginners). So, I’ll try that out! I’m curious to know the difference, since I’ve been having lots of difficulty balancing on my skates to be able to do more advance stuff like cross overs and backwards skating.
🔀 The 2-weekly-reviews routine has been working fine. I block my calendar on Friday’s afternoons to dedicate to the work review, and then do my personal review on the weekend.
🎭 I tried doing my personal weekly review on Saturday and it worked much better than on Sundays. I’ve already updated my calendar reminder as a recurring event for Saturdays from now on.
✒️ Journaling is going great with Standard Notes. I didn’t skip a day so far this year. It’s super easy to open it and start writing, any time of the day. I’ve been using it as my dumping ground while I’m at work as well.
🧘♀️ Yoga in the morning is being consistent. In the past I used to do headstands (Sirsasana) at the end of my yoga sessions. I want to start doing it again. It’s a challenging pose, and now I feel my core and upper body is sufficiently strong to do it.
These are some of the things that happened in my life lately:
⛸️Ice Skating lessons started again this weekend. I liked the new instructor who gave a variety of fundamental exercises to build balance. She explains things in a clear way and gives lots of encouragement. I skated backwards with more confidence than I’ve ever had before.
🧘♀️Almost halfway through the 30 Day Yoga Journey with Yoga with Adrienne. I’ve been doing it every morning.
✅I’ve been testing out MS To Do for my projects list and next actions. After my GTD year-end review in December, I feel like I want to simplify my system and use less apps. At work I will have to migrate to Microsoft apps anyway. I’ve always liked MS To Do aesthetics, it’s simple and elegant.
🔀Another realization: I like to have separate lists for work and personal stuff. So I have 2 weekly reviews now: one at work on Friday afternoon and my personal review at home on Sunday morning. I’m feeling less stressed over the weekends, and they feel like mini-vacations now!
🌳We had 30cm of snow this weekend and the trails were gorgeous. It started to look more like winter again. I love going for a walk after a snowstorm. There were people walking, biking, skiing, snowshoeing. Perfect conditions for those wintery activities!
These are some of the things that happened in my life lately:
⛸️Getting back to ice skating after the holiday break: I went to the rink yesterday and after half an hour skating I was already feeling exhausted, so I took it slow. My balance feels a little bit better, I tried some wobbly forward crossovers going counter-clockwise. I still can't even start a clockwise crossover, it's like my brain doesn't understand the movement.
❄️ After a green Christmas, we finally got some snow this weekend! It's been a warm winter and it seems the Rideau Canal skateway won't open this year because it's not cold enough to form the required 30cm ice thickness.
🧘♀️I'm doing the 30 Day Yoga Journey with Yoga with Adrienne. Every year she releases this challenge in January and I've been doing it for a couple of years now. I love it! It has become my start of the year tradition.
📖I've been thinking about my readers goals for 2024, and I will write a post about it soon. The trend will continue to be more fun and lighthearted books.
✒️I've decided to stick with Standard Notes for my private journaling this year. Last year I went between back and forth Standard Notes and the Journey app. The Journey app has been going through various updates, and they will insert A.I. as one of the features. They say it's safe and encrypted, but I don't feel comfortable with it. I've been enjoying the new Super Editor in Standard Notes.
These are some of the things that happened in my life lately:
⛸️ Ice Skating lessons are over for this year, but I enrolled for the next sessions in January. For now, I'll keep on hitting the drop-in public skating sessions on Sundays in our neighbourhood ice rink.
💪 I didn't go to the gym too much in the past 2 weeks. Both me and my partner caught a cold, and we didn't want to spread whatever it was. And also, we weren't feeling our best anyway. But we've been feeling well for the past few days.
🏝️ I took 3 days off work last week to recharge. I basically spent the days reading, playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey and just relaxing at home. It was great! I still have some vacation days that I will use between Christmas and the New Year. I will be away from work from Dec 20th until Jan 1st. Yay!
📖 I finished reading this urban fantasy book for my Book Club this week (“White Trash Warlock” by David R. Slayton). It was a light read, but I wasn't too invested in it. I picked up the second book of the Old Man's War series by John Scalzi now.
🎉 We went to our work Holiday Party this Saturday. It was the first time in months that I stayed up late (went to bed at around 1am) and I felt like a zombie the next day. Not to mention the “introvert hangover” I usually get after big social events: extreme exhaustion. I just needed some quiet time to recover. I still managed to complete the minimum house chores (like cooking my meals for the week, doing laundry and groceries shopping) but I basically took naps the whole day. I tried to read, but I would easily fall asleep. I had fun at the party, but it always comes with the downside of needing a full day to unwind from an intense socializing experience.
🌲 We went hiking on Saturday morning in a pleasant cloudy -4C day. Then the weather warmed up (reaching the high 6C), and we ended up getting rain over the Sunday. I've never seen rain in December like this!
Winter hiking scenery