Thirty Saturdays: Lifestyle Update

8 Comments

Photo: Margaret Durow

A month ago, I had left my job and started this new life devoid of external responsibilities.  Here is an update on how that’s going so far.

Being Away

I had spent the first two weeks in Canada visiting my parents and tying up loose ends related to the parting of my last relationship.  It was an emotional ride.  I’m sad for what happened, but I am very hopeful for the bright future ahead.  Several weeks have passed, I now feel restored and whole once again.

Last week, I traveled to LA for a 3-day relationship seminar taught by the amazing Alison Armstrong. The topic was marriage relationships, and as with Alison’s other seminars, focused on gaining clarity and understanding around the miscommunications between Men and Women.  I walked away feeling enlightened, refreshed and incredibly grateful for the gift of clarity.

During the seminar, I had enrolled in their Mastery and Leadership Program for 2009. It’s a year-long training program to become a workshop leader and teach the same topics that have profoundly touched my life.  The purpose of the material taught is to create harmonious partnerships between men and women in all contexts, by uncovering the mysteries and misunderstandings between men and women.  I’m totally stoked!

Coming Home

It felt unnatural waking up every day and not needing to be anywhere in particular, or needing to get dressed to go out.  While I had a job, I longed for the weekends, and dreaded peeling myself out of bed in the morning for work. Well, now that every day seems like a Saturday, I have to be honest and say, “It feels a little strange.”

Every day, I would hop on the computer upon waking up. It’s like an instinctive reflex to be at my desk after getting up.  I felt guilty for not having work to do, and needing to appear busy. My long-trained employee mind-set kicked in and whispered, “Tina, get to work. It’s late.”

I observed that I was feeling off-balanced psychologically, and spent way too much time answering emails, puttering around online and roaming around the house in my pajamas.  While it was fun for the first few days, the routine of sleeping-in and looking busy on the computer quickly got old and I felt the need to implement a new, more productive and purposeful routine.   As I transition out of my deeply conditioned employee-mindset and into an open field of freedom, I feel a need to intercept my life with some daily structure and a few targets more conducive to my wellbeing.

Now & Later

At the moment, my number one priority is to focus on myself on getting well again. I need to feel balanced first, before diving into goals in other life areas.  It’s all part of the adjustment period.

Yesterday, I started jogging for the first time in 4 months, after some verbal ass-kicking from a friend. I did so only after having promised I would go running that day (Note to self: making a promise to someone to do something is highly motivational and effective in triggering action).   It felt so good to physically release some of the apathetic energy, and to get out in the sun.

I’ve since written out activities that will help me regain personal wellness and sense of balance.  These will be my focus for the next week:

• Read – Spend a minimum of two hours reading everyday
• Exercise – Go jogging three times a week. Preferably, every other day. Do Yoga on off days.
• Renew Spirit – Meditate in silence for 15 minutes twice daily.
• Reduce Email Consumption – Spend no more than one hour on email a day, broken down into two 30 minute sessions.
• Productivity - Set 3 achievable and bite size goals every morning, commit to completing them first, before doing any other random tasks.

I’ll report back on how I did and share future goals next week.

What’s your focus this week? What are your goals and priorities?
Talk to me in the comment section.

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Related Links:

• TSN: Dream to Reality: How I Quit My Day Job
• TSN: Power of Focused Attention

Free Podcasts with Alison Armstrong:

• Listen: Creating Peace in the War Between The Sexes (Part 1)
• Listen: Creating Peace in the War Between The Sexes (Part 2)
• Listen: Making Sense of Men (Part 1)
• Listen: Making Sense of Men (Part 2)
• Listen: “Uncovering Important Truths About Men”
• Watch: List of Videos on You-Tube

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8 Responses (8 Comments, 0 Trackbacks ):

Comments

1. PeaceLoveJoyBliss

   Sep 06 08, 1:15 am

   1

   Tina, you have a wonderful opportunity to set your own pace in the morning, which affects the rest of your day, and I must say, I like your list of activities for making this happen.

   My focus for the week to come is to contemplate and meditate on the significance of this image: “leading others to water”. At the moment, I have only an inkling of what this means.

   Christopher

2. Karl Staib - Your Work Happiness Matters

   Sep 07 08, 7:28 pm

   2

   I’m jealous of your routine. I’m still stuck in the 9-5. With a little more hard work over the next year or two I should be able to break out soon. I feel the tide turning in my favor.

   My focus on the week is to finish editing my ebook. Once that is done I can move on to my next big challenge, which I haven’t decided on yet.

3. Hunter Nuttall

   Sep 08 08, 6:50 am

   3

   Tim Ferriss had a hard time adjusting to his newfound freedom. I think he said at one point that the best idea he had for how to spend his time was to get a sandwich. Sounds like you’re off to a good start.

4. Nathalie Lussier from Billionaire Woman

   Sep 09 08, 11:39 am

   4

   I love hearing about your new adventures. I sometimes wish I still lived on the west coast of the US so I could attend all the awesome seminars available! I’m sure you’ll have a blast attending the training. :)

   I have been experiencing the thirty saturdays thing for most of the summer. But keeping with my parents’ schedule has given me a different perspective.

   Thanks for sharing! :)

5. Daniel Richard

   Sep 10 08, 12:25 am

   5

   I’m sure your new lifestyle will bring you to the many more new goodness that you are out there to seek for. Simply you. :)

6. Sophia Pham

   Sep 14 08, 3:12 am

   6

   I admire you, you’re a really strong person. I only wish to be strong willed one day also.

7. Alice Teh

   Oct 06 08, 8:40 pm

   7

   Hey Tina, I think this is the reason why I am attracted to your blog in the first place. You have great personality and definitely strong. Bless you!

8. Zath

   Oct 13 08, 9:52 am

   8

   It’s interesting to read how other people cope with going more blog-orientated in their work.

   I’ve dropped down to 3 days per week in my day-job, but so far have got the nasty habit of those extra 2 days being like a saturdays – getting up late-ish (between 10-11am) and then spending far too long online doing things that are very vaguely related to blogging….researching perhaps I could call it! ;)

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