Routines and Regimes

Tuesday 8/9/2020

Every year I hear the same thing about fixing my current routine in order to develop better academically; this includes stuff like leaving your phone outside your bedroom, doing regular exercise and waking up early. In my mind I feel that listening to my body is important for me to reach my full potential. Today, I decided I wanted to sit an exam that was cancelled due to Covid-19 and I have a total of 4 weeks to prepare for an exam I did not even know I'd be sitting. My subjects are quite coursework heavy and I already have missed deadlines so I thought that I need a change in my regime everyday so that I can perform greater than ever.

I follow an account of Instagram @marketingaims which posts a lot about good and bad habits. They repeat regularly on how waking up early has a positive effect; which I understand because by waking up at 8am I can fit in 3 extra hours worth of work where I'd wake up at 11am. So now that I have a goal I'm hoping that I can find the motivation to stay updated with coursework and revise as much as I am able to by October 7th. Therefore I have decided to do research on how the advice taken from the post below from @marketingaims will work for me and by work.

The outcome

So, I will not lie. Out of the 4 simple rules I only succeeded to do the first two. Every morning this week I have woken up around 7 or 8 so that I can fit more work in. A struggle I've found in my life is being unable to balance all my lives around each other. Waking up early has allowed extra time for my school work which has proven to be a very effective method. I am trying to catch up on all my coursework so I won't have the stress when it comes to revising for the exams. Generally, I hope to keep this pattern to also be able to balance school work and revision as the only con is self control waking and the big pro is an increase in productivity.

On Saturday night one of my friends was out in town and it sounded like she'd had a few to drink love her. Anyways, it really touched my heart because she took time out of her night to send me a bunch of texts and voice notes talking about how she appreciated and loved me; I won't lie, I did cry. I have saved the messages so that when I am sad I can look at them. Similarly, one of my other closest friends asked to FaceTime me (although I left it too late due to a chip shop pit stop) I appreciated how both of my friends were willing to change and make time in their routines for me. I honestly felt so loved and its made me realise how supportive my friends are of me.

I missed a party to do school work, which sounds really pathetic. However, work can change my mindset on every aspect of my life because it is my main origin of stress. Stress is annoying because once I am stressed I can not do work but work is the cause of stress so there's no getting rid of it. The way I deal with stress is by meeting people who help me get my mind off things and going for a spin in the car. Though none of my friends can drive YET, I'm pretty confident one of them will pass soon and I kid you not when I say I will be texting that friend most nights saying I'm stressed and that I just want a vanilla milkshake from the McDonald's Drive Thru. This week me and my boyfriend visited a very special place to me which honestly provided a stress detox. We saw baby seals with their mamas and he got a ear ache from how windy it was up there! The journey took an hour and a half but it was so worth it.

Also, i ate a banana 3 days in a row! And I never eat fruit...

So to conclude, life should never be set around a strict routine. Life's dynamic but only you can understand how to handle it; one method does not work for everyone. So ye, I discovered that getting up earlier helps me be productive, but for others it may be the opposite. Take your time today to change your routine, whether it's to finish a piece of work or tell someone you love them, I'm sure you won't regret the time you'll take from your regime :)