Dave the Nomad https://nomadave.writeas.com/ Wed, 08 Apr 2026 22:10:10 +0000 Weekly checkin - February 19 https://nomadave.writeas.com/weekly-checkin-february-19?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[This week was a bit of a roller-coaster in terms of mood and energy, and recognizing that is essential in making sure I give myself time to recharge and reset. Overall, though, I'm feeling more engaged with life, which has improved my baseline mood and well-being. Thanks to @AnokheeTara@ohai.social for the inspiration for some of the sections in this post - and for the inspiration in sharing this regularly! !--more-- What went well? I've been continuing down the ADHD rabbit hole, which has shifted my perspective such that I see my daily structure - my habits, my journal, scheduling my day - as fundamental needs rather than nice to haves. To that end, I scheduled my days every day this week, and that helped me build so much traction on various projects. I also spent a bunch of time organizing and writing down all of the things I want to be doing - fun projects, hobbies, etc. Getting it all out of my head and into a document from which I can randomly grab tasks on any given day helps so much. Otherwise, I forget about them, and if I don't make the decision in the morning to do something, the likelihood of it happening is painfully low. I also wrote a bunch this week. I published a post about how to accomplish the important things that somehow keep slipping. I dusted off a decade-old idea for a novel and started re-visiting the outline for it. What didn't go so well? I got really frustrated and irritated at work in the first half of the week, mainly from ambiguous and shifting expectations. I also found myself not wanting to deal with and process those feelings. I just wanted to stew in them. I also had a couple of nights of bad sleep. Thursday night, I woke up at 1am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I had a total of about 3 hours of sleep. Friday night, Zoe, my husky pup, had diarrhea, so I was up every 2 hours taking her out. Saturday night was a lot better, though I got to sleep about an hour and a half later than usual and still woke up at my normal time. What did I learn this week? I'm learning that structure and planning are essential needs for me. My sense of well-being depends on it. I'm also learning that I need to have clear expectations at work, and I need to ask for that or find healthier ways to cope with shifting expectations in situations where it's necessary. I'm also learning that I still react to many things in my life, usually by just getting grumpy and shutting down and avoiding, when instead I could be responding. That requires being more mindful of a given situation, of my feelings, and choosing to respond instead of reacting. What am I curious about? I continue to be very curious about ADHD and how the coping strategies of others will work for me. I'm excited and hopeful that by giving myself enough variation and a list of things to choose from, I can keep myself engaged and thus feeling pretty well. What's bringing me joy? Making progress on my various projects! I did some work on my RV home automation/remote control project, in which I'm building the ability for us to adjust climate controls and even start/stop our generator remotely. This is really important to us, because sometimes we leave the dogs at home, and if we forget to turn on the A/C - or if there's a power outage - it can get incredibly hot. The remote control allows us to get notified if the power goes out, and start the generator + A/C from where ever we are. What are my intentions for next week? Next week, I would like to be more mindful of how I react vs. respond to situations in my life, and work on nudging myself towards responding. I will also continue planning my days, because that's really working out well for me. I'm bumping my daily word count goal to 400 words per day. We'll see how that goes. Experimentation without judgment! #Reflection #SelfCare #PersonalGrowth #AmWriting #Mindfulness]]> This week was a bit of a roller-coaster in terms of mood and energy, and recognizing that is essential in making sure I give myself time to recharge and reset. Overall, though, I'm feeling more engaged with life, which has improved my baseline mood and well-being.

Thanks to @AnokheeTara@ohai.social for the inspiration for some of the sections in this post – and for the inspiration in sharing this regularly!

What went well?

I've been continuing down the ADHD rabbit hole, which has shifted my perspective such that I see my daily structure – my habits, my journal, scheduling my day – as fundamental needs rather than nice to haves. To that end, I scheduled my days every day this week, and that helped me build so much traction on various projects.

I also spent a bunch of time organizing and writing down all of the things I want to be doing – fun projects, hobbies, etc. Getting it all out of my head and into a document from which I can randomly grab tasks on any given day helps so much. Otherwise, I forget about them, and if I don't make the decision in the morning to do something, the likelihood of it happening is painfully low.

I also wrote a bunch this week. I published a post about how to accomplish the important things that somehow keep slipping. I dusted off a decade-old idea for a novel and started re-visiting the outline for it.

What didn't go so well?

I got really frustrated and irritated at work in the first half of the week, mainly from ambiguous and shifting expectations. I also found myself not wanting to deal with and process those feelings. I just wanted to stew in them.

I also had a couple of nights of bad sleep. Thursday night, I woke up at 1am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I had a total of about 3 hours of sleep. Friday night, Zoe, my husky pup, had diarrhea, so I was up every 2 hours taking her out. Saturday night was a lot better, though I got to sleep about an hour and a half later than usual and still woke up at my normal time.

What did I learn this week?

I'm learning that structure and planning are essential needs for me. My sense of well-being depends on it. I'm also learning that I need to have clear expectations at work, and I need to ask for that or find healthier ways to cope with shifting expectations in situations where it's necessary.

I'm also learning that I still react to many things in my life, usually by just getting grumpy and shutting down and avoiding, when instead I could be responding. That requires being more mindful of a given situation, of my feelings, and choosing to respond instead of reacting.

What am I curious about?

I continue to be very curious about ADHD and how the coping strategies of others will work for me. I'm excited and hopeful that by giving myself enough variation and a list of things to choose from, I can keep myself engaged and thus feeling pretty well.

What's bringing me joy?

Making progress on my various projects! I did some work on my RV home automation/remote control project, in which I'm building the ability for us to adjust climate controls and even start/stop our generator remotely. This is really important to us, because sometimes we leave the dogs at home, and if we forget to turn on the A/C – or if there's a power outage – it can get incredibly hot. The remote control allows us to get notified if the power goes out, and start the generator + A/C from where ever we are.

What are my intentions for next week?

Next week, I would like to be more mindful of how I react vs. respond to situations in my life, and work on nudging myself towards responding. I will also continue planning my days, because that's really working out well for me. I'm bumping my daily word count goal to 400 words per day. We'll see how that goes. Experimentation without judgment!

#Reflection #SelfCare #PersonalGrowth #AmWriting #Mindfulness

]]> https://nomadave.writeas.com/weekly-checkin-february-19 Sun, 19 Feb 2023 16:06:09 +0000 How to accomplish the important things that somehow keep slipping https://nomadave.writeas.com/how-to-accomplish-the-important-things-that-somehow-keep-slipping?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[All throughout my 20s and most of my 30s, I'd have these great ideas for ways to improve my life: writing in a journal, or making a schedule for myself, or organizing all the projects and hobbies I love. More often than not, none of those things would ever get accomplished. Demands of life would get in the way. I'd completely forget about them, as if I never had the idea in the first place. As a result, years would go by and I would wonder where the time went and why I never did those things. Other times, when faced with unexpected free time, I'd squander it because I couldn't make a decision on what to do with that time. So many hobbies and projects, so many things vying for my interest and my time, where do I even start? Does this sound like you? Are there things you want to do, then forget to do, only to remember later and think, "oh, right, I wish I did that more often!"? !--more-- If so, I hope this post will help you. The secret: identify the things you want to do, make them obvious so you don't forget them, and make them automatic so you don't have to make the decision to do them. Let's work through those three things in reverse order. How do you make them automatic? Do you brush your teeth every day? Do you shower regularly? Is there something you do every morning, automatically, without thinking about it? Those are habits. A habit is a behaviour that, when repeated enough times, becomes completely automatic. You don't have to think about it: it just happens. There's three parts to a habit: a cue, an action, and a reward. The most important part is the cue, which tells your brain it's time to do the habit. What cues you to start brushing your teeth? What cues you to do the thing you do every morning, automatically? Next is the action, which is the actual thing we want to do. Lastly is the reward, which reinforces the habit. Feeling clean after a shower, or that minty fresh feeling after brushing your teeth. That's the reward. It also works for bad habits. Think about it: feeling a bit bored or uncertain of what to do? Pick up your phone. Open social media. New notifications! There's your reward for a social media habit. The cool thing about habits is that we can intentionally create new ones for ourselves. It takes a bit of time and effort, but it's well worth it. The other really cool thing about habits is that we can stack them. Finishing one habit is the cue for the next one. Do you have a sequence of habits you complete every morning? Right after you wake up, what comes next? And what's after that? For me, it looks something like this: Wake up Take a multivitamin Put on deodorant Get dressed Turn on the coffee maker And so on. These are all things that just happen automatically, without thinking about it, because I've been doing them for so long. What does yours look like? Could you add another habit to the end of that? How do you make them obvious? If you struggle with remembering and starting tasks, with bottled up feelings, with feeling like you're underachieving and wouldn't it be great if I could just finish those half dozen projects, the most important habit I can recommend is checking in with a notebook. A notebook is your springboard to doing everything else. Having a notebook, and checking in with it frequently, serves as a foundation for everything else you want to do. It serves as an outlet for feelings, a mirror for reflecting on yourself, a vault for all of your random ideas, and an obvious reminder for all the things you want to do. You can use any format that makes sense to you: a physical notebook or notepad, a Notes app on your phone or computer, etc. Personally, I use an app called Obsidian, which has a Daily Note feature that I use pretty extensively. First, you need to start by making the notebook habit obvious. In the early days of creating a habit, I've found it incredibly helpful to set reminders to myself to do the habit. Create a daily reminder in my phone, or a daily event in my calendar, put a post-it note in a place I know I'll see it, reminding myself to do this habit. Those reminders are your cue while you're developing the habit. Eventually, you won't even need the reminder. How do you identify the things you want to do? For me, it's easy to identify the things I want to do. My trouble is remembering that I wanted to do them. I'll have a thought, then get pulled away from that thought by work or social media or something else, and that thought is gone. Usually some time later, I'll remember having that thought, and be frustrated that 3 months has gone by and I never followed through on that. That's where the notebook comes in. I write down everything, because I know I won't remember otherwise. My notebook - my journal - is my coach, constantly reminding me of what I said I wanted to do, of important lessons I've learned, of random thoughts I've had that I wanted to keep. Lastly, keep it simple. Habits take time to become automatic, and trying to create too many habits all at once can be too much. It takes a lot of mental effort to keep track of all the things you want to be doing differently, so just focus on changing one thing. Just focus on checking in with a notebook every day. Give it 2-3 weeks to catch on and become automatic. Once you're habitually checking in with a notebook, you can use the notebook to start accomplishing the other things you want to do. --- Does this sound like something you’d like to try? I’d be happy to help in any way I can! Shoot me a message on Mastodon @nomadave@mindly.social and let’s share our intentions and work together to stay focused and build new habits.]]> All throughout my 20s and most of my 30s, I'd have these great ideas for ways to improve my life: writing in a journal, or making a schedule for myself, or organizing all the projects and hobbies I love. More often than not, none of those things would ever get accomplished. Demands of life would get in the way. I'd completely forget about them, as if I never had the idea in the first place. As a result, years would go by and I would wonder where the time went and why I never did those things.

Other times, when faced with unexpected free time, I'd squander it because I couldn't make a decision on what to do with that time. So many hobbies and projects, so many things vying for my interest and my time, where do I even start?

Does this sound like you? Are there things you want to do, then forget to do, only to remember later and think, “oh, right, I wish I did that more often!”?

If so, I hope this post will help you.

The secret: identify the things you want to do, make them obvious so you don't forget them, and make them automatic so you don't have to make the decision to do them.

Let's work through those three things in reverse order.

How do you make them automatic?

Do you brush your teeth every day? Do you shower regularly? Is there something you do every morning, automatically, without thinking about it?

Those are habits. A habit is a behaviour that, when repeated enough times, becomes completely automatic. You don't have to think about it: it just happens.

There's three parts to a habit: a cue, an action, and a reward. The most important part is the cue, which tells your brain it's time to do the habit. What cues you to start brushing your teeth? What cues you to do the thing you do every morning, automatically?

Next is the action, which is the actual thing we want to do. Lastly is the reward, which reinforces the habit. Feeling clean after a shower, or that minty fresh feeling after brushing your teeth. That's the reward.

It also works for bad habits. Think about it: feeling a bit bored or uncertain of what to do? Pick up your phone. Open social media. New notifications! There's your reward for a social media habit.

The cool thing about habits is that we can intentionally create new ones for ourselves. It takes a bit of time and effort, but it's well worth it. The other really cool thing about habits is that we can stack them. Finishing one habit is the cue for the next one.

Do you have a sequence of habits you complete every morning? Right after you wake up, what comes next? And what's after that?

For me, it looks something like this:

  • Wake up
  • Take a multivitamin
  • Put on deodorant
  • Get dressed
  • Turn on the coffee maker

And so on. These are all things that just happen automatically, without thinking about it, because I've been doing them for so long. What does yours look like?

Could you add another habit to the end of that?

How do you make them obvious?

If you struggle with remembering and starting tasks, with bottled up feelings, with feeling like you're underachieving and wouldn't it be great if I could just finish those half dozen projects, the most important habit I can recommend is checking in with a notebook.

A notebook is your springboard to doing everything else. Having a notebook, and checking in with it frequently, serves as a foundation for everything else you want to do. It serves as an outlet for feelings, a mirror for reflecting on yourself, a vault for all of your random ideas, and an obvious reminder for all the things you want to do.

You can use any format that makes sense to you: a physical notebook or notepad, a Notes app on your phone or computer, etc. Personally, I use an app called Obsidian, which has a Daily Note feature that I use pretty extensively.

First, you need to start by making the notebook habit obvious. In the early days of creating a habit, I've found it incredibly helpful to set reminders to myself to do the habit. Create a daily reminder in my phone, or a daily event in my calendar, put a post-it note in a place I know I'll see it, reminding myself to do this habit. Those reminders are your cue while you're developing the habit. Eventually, you won't even need the reminder.

How do you identify the things you want to do?

For me, it's easy to identify the things I want to do. My trouble is remembering that I wanted to do them. I'll have a thought, then get pulled away from that thought by work or social media or something else, and that thought is gone. Usually some time later, I'll remember having that thought, and be frustrated that 3 months has gone by and I never followed through on that.

That's where the notebook comes in. I write down everything, because I know I won't remember otherwise. My notebook – my journal – is my coach, constantly reminding me of what I said I wanted to do, of important lessons I've learned, of random thoughts I've had that I wanted to keep.

Lastly, keep it simple.

Habits take time to become automatic, and trying to create too many habits all at once can be too much. It takes a lot of mental effort to keep track of all the things you want to be doing differently, so just focus on changing one thing. Just focus on checking in with a notebook every day. Give it 2-3 weeks to catch on and become automatic.

Once you're habitually checking in with a notebook, you can use the notebook to start accomplishing the other things you want to do.

Does this sound like something you’d like to try? I’d be happy to help in any way I can! Shoot me a message on Mastodon @nomadave@mindly.social and let’s share our intentions and work together to stay focused and build new habits.

]]> https://nomadave.writeas.com/how-to-accomplish-the-important-things-that-somehow-keep-slipping Fri, 17 Feb 2023 14:25:38 +0000 A pretty big realization about myself - and how to move forward with it https://nomadave.writeas.com/a-pretty-big-realization-about-myself-and-how-to-move-forward-with-it?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[After last week's post, I started going down a rabbit hole of research on indecision, because I recognized that I was struggling to make decisions where there's no clear upside or downside. That led to going down an ADHD rabbit hole, buying a book called Driven to Distraction, and almost finishing it in the span of a couple of days. This coming from the guy who has been reading two other books for the last 3 months and is nowhere close to finishing them. Fixation much? !--more-- I hate to self-diagnose, but a lot of the ADHD experience resonates with me. And it's not just casual forgetfulness and procrastination, it's a deep inability to follow through on things, an inability to start things even though I want to do them. The need for a structure in order to get anything done. Episodes of hyperfixation where I go really deep on something, lose sleep over it, forget to eat and drink and shower. Hell, even on a regular basis, I forget to shower unless it's in my task list. That being said, I also feel like my experience is manageable enough without medication and with the proper structure and systems in place. Whether or not I have it, the mental model of ADHD helps me recognize and understand some of my behaviour, and how to cope and manage it better. I don't feel like a professional diagnosis would change anything. What happened this week? Engaging with the ADHD rabbit hole gave me a huge energy spike. For the last couple of months, I've been trying to figure out how to feel that energy spike. How to get that energy back. I've been in an energy trough for so long. What's interesting is that my eating, sleeping, and exercise habits didn't change at all. The only thing that changed is that my brain was engaged on a new topic. How do I sustain that engagement? Can I sustain it? Is it even sustainable? Or do I have to accept the rotating highs and lows as that’s just how my brain works? What went well? I found it really helped me to check-in on a daily basis with a variety of people to help keep me focused and accountable. I checked in and shared my daily intentions with my best friend and my step-daughter, who I thought would also benefit from a daily check-in. I also started doing daily writing check-ins on the Mindly.Social Discord server. I set a specific daily writing goal: 250 words or sit for an hour, whichever happens first. And having multiple projects to choose from - this blog, my travel blog, and a possible fiction project - helps me make sure I write, even if I'm not feeling into one of those projects. With the new insight about structure, I worked on building a habit stacking plan. What didn't go so well? Given my fixation on the ADHD rabbit hole, it was incredibly hard to get focused on work. The only time I managed to get any real work done was when there was serious external pressure - something broke and I needed to urgently fix it, or I felt like someone at work was waiting for something specific to be done. Deadlines for the win, I guess? Daily physical activity eluded me. I totally forgot to do any kind of finance management on the weekend, and even forgot to get some bills paid. Thankfully I did remember eventually - at 2:30am Sunday night :D What did I learn? I learned how important and necessary structure is to my sense of well-being. On top of that, I learned that having a trusted friend or group of people to keep me accountable contributes greatly to that structure. Using tools like body doubling, coaching, and accountibilibuddies, are necessary to my success and consistency. How can I improve next week? I need to manage my expectations, and realize that I can't change everything all at once. With that in mind, I need to focus on building one consistent habit for at least the next couple of weeks, before I can consider adding another one. That habit is writing. Every day, after I finish writing in my journal, I'll write at least 300 words or sit for an hour. Next week, I also want to finish building a habit stacking plan for myself, and making adjustments to my journal to add more structure to my planning. #ADHD #Mindfulness #SelfCare #Journaling #PersonalGrowth #Neurodivergent #AmWriting #Writing #WritingCommunity #Habits]]> After last week's post, I started going down a rabbit hole of research on indecision, because I recognized that I was struggling to make decisions where there's no clear upside or downside.

That led to going down an ADHD rabbit hole, buying a book called Driven to Distraction, and almost finishing it in the span of a couple of days. This coming from the guy who has been reading two other books for the last 3 months and is nowhere close to finishing them. Fixation much?

I hate to self-diagnose, but a lot of the ADHD experience resonates with me. And it's not just casual forgetfulness and procrastination, it's a deep inability to follow through on things, an inability to start things even though I want to do them. The need for a structure in order to get anything done. Episodes of hyperfixation where I go really deep on something, lose sleep over it, forget to eat and drink and shower. Hell, even on a regular basis, I forget to shower unless it's in my task list.

That being said, I also feel like my experience is manageable enough without medication and with the proper structure and systems in place. Whether or not I have it, the mental model of ADHD helps me recognize and understand some of my behaviour, and how to cope and manage it better. I don't feel like a professional diagnosis would change anything.

What happened this week?

Engaging with the ADHD rabbit hole gave me a huge energy spike. For the last couple of months, I've been trying to figure out how to feel that energy spike. How to get that energy back. I've been in an energy trough for so long. What's interesting is that my eating, sleeping, and exercise habits didn't change at all. The only thing that changed is that my brain was engaged on a new topic. How do I sustain that engagement? Can I sustain it? Is it even sustainable? Or do I have to accept the rotating highs and lows as that’s just how my brain works?

What went well?

I found it really helped me to check-in on a daily basis with a variety of people to help keep me focused and accountable. I checked in and shared my daily intentions with my best friend and my step-daughter, who I thought would also benefit from a daily check-in.

I also started doing daily writing check-ins on the Mindly.Social Discord server. I set a specific daily writing goal: 250 words or sit for an hour, whichever happens first. And having multiple projects to choose from – this blog, my travel blog, and a possible fiction project – helps me make sure I write, even if I'm not feeling into one of those projects.

With the new insight about structure, I worked on building a habit stacking plan.

What didn't go so well?

Given my fixation on the ADHD rabbit hole, it was incredibly hard to get focused on work. The only time I managed to get any real work done was when there was serious external pressure – something broke and I needed to urgently fix it, or I felt like someone at work was waiting for something specific to be done. Deadlines for the win, I guess?

Daily physical activity eluded me. I totally forgot to do any kind of finance management on the weekend, and even forgot to get some bills paid. Thankfully I did remember eventually – at 2:30am Sunday night :D

What did I learn?

I learned how important and necessary structure is to my sense of well-being. On top of that, I learned that having a trusted friend or group of people to keep me accountable contributes greatly to that structure. Using tools like body doubling, coaching, and accountibilibuddies, are necessary to my success and consistency.

How can I improve next week?

I need to manage my expectations, and realize that I can't change everything all at once. With that in mind, I need to focus on building one consistent habit for at least the next couple of weeks, before I can consider adding another one.

That habit is writing. Every day, after I finish writing in my journal, I'll write at least 300 words or sit for an hour.

Next week, I also want to finish building a habit stacking plan for myself, and making adjustments to my journal to add more structure to my planning.

#ADHD #Mindfulness #SelfCare #Journaling #PersonalGrowth #Neurodivergent #AmWriting #Writing #WritingCommunity #Habits

]]> https://nomadave.writeas.com/a-pretty-big-realization-about-myself-and-how-to-move-forward-with-it Mon, 06 Feb 2023 16:20:11 +0000 Reflecting on January https://nomadave.writeas.com/reflecting-on-january?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[I struggle with writing consistently. As I begin writing this post, I'm feeling incredibly self-conscious: who cares about my life? Who cares what I did or how I felt in January? Who cares what I'm hoping to accomplish in February? I feel the same way about writing for my travel blog: like everything I write has to have a clear purpose and be useful or helpful in some way. If I'm not providing clear value in the form of tips or suggestions or advice, then who cares? Who cares about my travels? !--more-- The flip side of the "who cares" feeling is really this: what makes me so important that others would want to read about me? It feels kind of arrogant and conceited to write about myself, as if I'm important enough to warrant the interest of others. Over the last week or two, I've really realized and have been thinking about how I also struggle with making subjective decisions that have no clear upside or downside. Decisions like: what do I write about? What do I say? Should I work on my travel blog, or my personal blog, or a fiction project? Which of my many fiction ideas should I flesh out? What do I do with my leisure time? Oftentimes I wind up just sitting on my phone, or even just doing literally nothing, avoiding making a decision about how to spend my time. I'd love to hear from anyone that experiences this too and what they do to manage it. It's a challenge, but I'm working on it intentionally. Despite all of that, here's what I've done today: I've forced myself to make a decision on what to write - clearly, I'm here writing this. I've also decided to push through that discomfort of "who cares?" and write a monthly reflection post. My hope is that, by sharing how I journal at a monthly level, I'll inspire others to live more intentionally and in alignment with their values. So, what happened in January? Prior to January, I had been feeling incredibly low on energy and motivation. I felt burned out. It was a challenge to get a couple of focused, productive hours at work, let alone time on personal projects. I felt like I was just floating through the days, having a hard time caring about anything. Over the holidays, I took 10 days off from work, disconnected from my digital devices, and spent some time alone. It was lovely. So lovely that I decided to make that a part of my weekly routine: disconnecting from digital devices, and finding solitude in nature. The focus of January, then, was largely rebuilding a foundation of self-care. This looked like: Meditating for 15 minutes and setting intentions in my journal every morning Using a Mood Meter to measure my mood in my journal every morning Spending 15-30 minutes on a randomly selected physical activity every day Every Sunday, disconnecting and giving myself space to recharge Working on a consistent bed time and sleep schedule What went well? By the end of January, the change was remarkable: while I wasn't feeling more physically energetic, there was a substantial improvement in my general sense of well-being and mood. On top of the self-care habits above, we also moved to San Bernardino, California after spending three months in Las Vegas. As the move day approached, I found myself feeling invigorated. Despite move day being exhausting, I feel much better after moving. My focus at work has substantially improved. I feel like I have more mental energy. I feel more motivated to spend time on creative pursuits. What didn't go so well? I kept my intentions for the month pretty simple and focused, so there's not a lot that didn't go well. I wasn't physically active every single day. I'm okay with that. I was mindful of my energy levels and, thus, my expectations of myself. I also tried to be honest with myself: am I being lazy, or do I really not have the energy today? I feel like I was pretty fair. Some days, I would go for a long walk with the dogs. Some days, I would do some high intensity cardio in the house. Other days, I did nothing. And that's okay. What did I learn? In January, I started reading about hyper-fixation and realized it describes me incredibly well. I go through phases where I fixate on learning something new. It consumes my thoughts: I have trouble sleeping, all of my self-care habits disappear, I stop taking care of myself, I forget to shower. It's incredibly difficult to control. Knowing that, I put together what I call my Fixation Coping Plan. Basically, it's a plan to help me cope with my fixation episodes, both during the episode and for recovering afterward. I also learned, as I started working on writing more consistently, that I struggle with making subjective decisions. How can I improve next month? Taking what I've learned, in February I want to work on being more decisive. Writing this post is a great example of that, and I need to continue being intentional about that every day. What are my intentions for February? After spending all of January building a foundation of self-care, I feel like I'm ready to build on that and take better care of my surroundings and relationships. That means: Managing my finances and budgeting more actively Being more intentional with my relationships - with my wife, with my family, with my friends Keeping the RV in good shape and staying on top of chores and maintenance In addition, I feel a need for a creative outlet, like I have this pent up energy that needs to be put into something. It's not a physical energy, it's more emotional or mental. I need to focus my efforts on something: writing, music, game dev, one of my many various interests. I've decided I'm going to focus on writing. For this blog, for my travel blog, and on a fiction project. Whatever feels right on any given day. --- Well, that wound up being a bit longer than I thought it would, but there it is: my monthly reflection and intention setting. Do you journal regularly? Do you experience the challenges with subjective decisions that I do? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Hit me up on Mastodon @nomadave@mindly.social! #Mindfulness #SelfCare #Journaling #PersonalGrowth]]> I struggle with writing consistently. As I begin writing this post, I'm feeling incredibly self-conscious: who cares about my life? Who cares what I did or how I felt in January? Who cares what I'm hoping to accomplish in February?

I feel the same way about writing for my travel blog: like everything I write has to have a clear purpose and be useful or helpful in some way. If I'm not providing clear value in the form of tips or suggestions or advice, then who cares? Who cares about my travels?

The flip side of the “who cares” feeling is really this: what makes me so important that others would want to read about me? It feels kind of arrogant and conceited to write about myself, as if I'm important enough to warrant the interest of others.

Over the last week or two, I've really realized and have been thinking about how I also struggle with making subjective decisions that have no clear upside or downside. Decisions like: what do I write about? What do I say? Should I work on my travel blog, or my personal blog, or a fiction project? Which of my many fiction ideas should I flesh out? What do I do with my leisure time? Oftentimes I wind up just sitting on my phone, or even just doing literally nothing, avoiding making a decision about how to spend my time.

I'd love to hear from anyone that experiences this too and what they do to manage it. It's a challenge, but I'm working on it intentionally.

Despite all of that, here's what I've done today: I've forced myself to make a decision on what to write – clearly, I'm here writing this. I've also decided to push through that discomfort of “who cares?” and write a monthly reflection post. My hope is that, by sharing how I journal at a monthly level, I'll inspire others to live more intentionally and in alignment with their values.

So, what happened in January?

Prior to January, I had been feeling incredibly low on energy and motivation. I felt burned out. It was a challenge to get a couple of focused, productive hours at work, let alone time on personal projects. I felt like I was just floating through the days, having a hard time caring about anything.

Over the holidays, I took 10 days off from work, disconnected from my digital devices, and spent some time alone. It was lovely. So lovely that I decided to make that a part of my weekly routine: disconnecting from digital devices, and finding solitude in nature.

The focus of January, then, was largely rebuilding a foundation of self-care. This looked like:

  • Meditating for 15 minutes and setting intentions in my journal every morning
  • Using a Mood Meter to measure my mood in my journal every morning
  • Spending 15-30 minutes on a randomly selected physical activity every day
  • Every Sunday, disconnecting and giving myself space to recharge
  • Working on a consistent bed time and sleep schedule

What went well?

By the end of January, the change was remarkable: while I wasn't feeling more physically energetic, there was a substantial improvement in my general sense of well-being and mood.

On top of the self-care habits above, we also moved to San Bernardino, California after spending three months in Las Vegas. As the move day approached, I found myself feeling invigorated. Despite move day being exhausting, I feel much better after moving. My focus at work has substantially improved. I feel like I have more mental energy. I feel more motivated to spend time on creative pursuits.

What didn't go so well?

I kept my intentions for the month pretty simple and focused, so there's not a lot that didn't go well.

I wasn't physically active every single day. I'm okay with that. I was mindful of my energy levels and, thus, my expectations of myself. I also tried to be honest with myself: am I being lazy, or do I really not have the energy today? I feel like I was pretty fair.

Some days, I would go for a long walk with the dogs. Some days, I would do some high intensity cardio in the house. Other days, I did nothing. And that's okay.

What did I learn?

In January, I started reading about hyper-fixation and realized it describes me incredibly well. I go through phases where I fixate on learning something new. It consumes my thoughts: I have trouble sleeping, all of my self-care habits disappear, I stop taking care of myself, I forget to shower. It's incredibly difficult to control.

Knowing that, I put together what I call my Fixation Coping Plan. Basically, it's a plan to help me cope with my fixation episodes, both during the episode and for recovering afterward.

I also learned, as I started working on writing more consistently, that I struggle with making subjective decisions.

How can I improve next month?

Taking what I've learned, in February I want to work on being more decisive. Writing this post is a great example of that, and I need to continue being intentional about that every day.

What are my intentions for February?

After spending all of January building a foundation of self-care, I feel like I'm ready to build on that and take better care of my surroundings and relationships.

That means:

  • Managing my finances and budgeting more actively
  • Being more intentional with my relationships – with my wife, with my family, with my friends
  • Keeping the RV in good shape and staying on top of chores and maintenance

In addition, I feel a need for a creative outlet, like I have this pent up energy that needs to be put into something. It's not a physical energy, it's more emotional or mental. I need to focus my efforts on something: writing, music, game dev, one of my many various interests.

I've decided I'm going to focus on writing. For this blog, for my travel blog, and on a fiction project. Whatever feels right on any given day.

Well, that wound up being a bit longer than I thought it would, but there it is: my monthly reflection and intention setting.

Do you journal regularly? Do you experience the challenges with subjective decisions that I do? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Hit me up on Mastodon @nomadave@mindly.social!

#Mindfulness #SelfCare #Journaling #PersonalGrowth

]]> https://nomadave.writeas.com/reflecting-on-january Mon, 30 Jan 2023 16:56:10 +0000 Be more intentional with your time using reflection https://nomadave.writeas.com/be-more-intentional-with-your-time-using-reflection?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[How did you spend your day yesterday? Are you satisfied with how your time was spent? Did you spend time on things that are important to you? Or did you spend it reacting to the priorities of others, losing your own priorities in the process? !--more-- We say spend time so often that you might have missed how many times I said it in the first paragraph. I said it four times - once in each sentence. It's interesting that we use the word spend to describe how our time is used. When you think about it, it's a pretty accurate word. We spend time. Once it's spent, it's gone. We can't get that time back. We also talk about making time. We make time for our hobbies. We make time for our families and friends. But that's a misnomer - we're not actually making time. That time is going to be spent regardless of what we do. By making time, we're just choosing differently how to spend it. If you're satisfied with how you're spending your time, that's amazing! I'm really happy for you. It's such a great feeling, isn't it? If you're not satisfied, keep reading. I have an idea I would like to share, and I hope you find it useful. How our time is spent falls on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum is what I call reactivity. At this extreme, you feel like you have no control over your time. You're just reacting - to other people, to your own random thoughts and ideas and flights of fancy, to the dings from your phone and other devices. On the other end of the spectrum is what I call intentionality. At this extreme, you feel like you have full control over your time. You dictate, hour by hour, minute by minute, how your time is spent. You give your time to others and your devices on your own terms. The intentionality extreme is highly unlikely, but I know that I feel like I'm living my best life when I'm living closer to the intentionality side of the spectrum. If you feel like you're far on the reactivity side, and the idea of being more intentional sounds intriguing, what can we do to nudge ourselves in the right direction? Change one small thing: give yourself the time and space for reflection. Life without reflection is like putting on makeup without a mirror, like driving in an unfamiliar city without a map. Sure, you can do it. And maybe, eventually, you'll find your way. But it's not optimal. If you want to live your life with intention, doing the things you want to do, reflection is one of the most important self-care activities. It doesn't have to be a huge, daunting thing. Here's how you can get started: Choose a day of the week. I like Sundays, because for me, Sundays are often relaxed and chill and feel like the true end of the week. It's a good opportunity for me to reflect on the week that just passed. Next, ask yourself the following questions. If you like to write, pull out a pen and paper, or your favourite note-taking app. If not, do it in your head. Whatever feels most comfortable for you. \- What went well last week? \- What didn't go so well last week? \- What could I do to improve next week? In asking yourself these questions, I also want you to consider the feelings they bring you. Allow yourself to be proud of what went well, and don't be too hard on yourself for what didn't go well. Approach these questions with curiosity and without judgment. These questions will give you the opportunity to consider removing or minimizing the things that aren't going well, and to consider doubling down on the things that are going well. The amazing thing about reflection is that it's incredibly flexible. You can choose to reflect at any cadence that feels good to you: daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Try it weekly for a couple of weeks and see how it feels. If it feels like too much, try it monthly. Set a reminder in your calendar every month so you don't forget. If it feels like not enough, try it daily. The important thing is that you reflect regularly, at whatever interval feels right. I hope you enjoyed this post. I really appreciate the time you've spent reading this, and I would love to hear from you! Have you tried reflection? How did it work out for you? Hit me up @nomadave@mindly.social on Mastodon. I love talking about this stuff and I'm curious to hear about your experience! #Mindfulness #PersonalGrowth #PersonalDevelopment #Reflection a href="https://remark.as/p/nomadave/be-more-intentional-with-your-time-using-reflection"Discuss.../a]]> How did you spend your day yesterday?

Are you satisfied with how your time was spent? Did you spend time on things that are important to you? Or did you spend it reacting to the priorities of others, losing your own priorities in the process?

We say spend time so often that you might have missed how many times I said it in the first paragraph. I said it four times – once in each sentence. It's interesting that we use the word spend to describe how our time is used. When you think about it, it's a pretty accurate word. We spend time. Once it's spent, it's gone. We can't get that time back.

We also talk about making time. We make time for our hobbies. We make time for our families and friends. But that's a misnomer – we're not actually making time. That time is going to be spent regardless of what we do. By making time, we're just choosing differently how to spend it.

If you're satisfied with how you're spending your time, that's amazing! I'm really happy for you. It's such a great feeling, isn't it?

If you're not satisfied, keep reading. I have an idea I would like to share, and I hope you find it useful.

How our time is spent falls on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum is what I call reactivity. At this extreme, you feel like you have no control over your time. You're just reacting – to other people, to your own random thoughts and ideas and flights of fancy, to the dings from your phone and other devices.

On the other end of the spectrum is what I call intentionality. At this extreme, you feel like you have full control over your time. You dictate, hour by hour, minute by minute, how your time is spent. You give your time to others and your devices on your own terms.

The intentionality extreme is highly unlikely, but I know that I feel like I'm living my best life when I'm living closer to the intentionality side of the spectrum.

If you feel like you're far on the reactivity side, and the idea of being more intentional sounds intriguing, what can we do to nudge ourselves in the right direction?

Change one small thing: give yourself the time and space for reflection.

Life without reflection is like putting on makeup without a mirror, like driving in an unfamiliar city without a map. Sure, you can do it. And maybe, eventually, you'll find your way. But it's not optimal.

If you want to live your life with intention, doing the things you want to do, reflection is one of the most important self-care activities. It doesn't have to be a huge, daunting thing. Here's how you can get started:

Choose a day of the week. I like Sundays, because for me, Sundays are often relaxed and chill and feel like the true end of the week. It's a good opportunity for me to reflect on the week that just passed.

Next, ask yourself the following questions. If you like to write, pull out a pen and paper, or your favourite note-taking app. If not, do it in your head. Whatever feels most comfortable for you.

- What went well last week?

- What didn't go so well last week?

- What could I do to improve next week?

In asking yourself these questions, I also want you to consider the feelings they bring you. Allow yourself to be proud of what went well, and don't be too hard on yourself for what didn't go well. Approach these questions with curiosity and without judgment.

These questions will give you the opportunity to consider removing or minimizing the things that aren't going well, and to consider doubling down on the things that are going well.

The amazing thing about reflection is that it's incredibly flexible. You can choose to reflect at any cadence that feels good to you: daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Try it weekly for a couple of weeks and see how it feels. If it feels like too much, try it monthly. Set a reminder in your calendar every month so you don't forget.

If it feels like not enough, try it daily. The important thing is that you reflect regularly, at whatever interval feels right.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I really appreciate the time you've spent reading this, and I would love to hear from you! Have you tried reflection? How did it work out for you? Hit me up @nomadave@mindly.social on Mastodon. I love talking about this stuff and I'm curious to hear about your experience!

#Mindfulness #PersonalGrowth #PersonalDevelopment #Reflection

Discuss...

]]> https://nomadave.writeas.com/be-more-intentional-with-your-time-using-reflection Fri, 09 Dec 2022 15:37:46 +0000