I realised the importance of sustainable efforts quite recently. I am not talking about enviroment here. That’s kind of a fashionable topic nowadays. I realise it’s importance and am happy to see the world making efforts to save the environment, but I have to admit it’s not something that keeps me awake at night. Here I am talking about sustainability in life.

We trade in different currencies every day. We trade in time, money, emotions… Things fall apart sooner or later if we trade too much or too less of these without thinking about the future. It doesn’t matter too much if we have to do something for once or for a relatively short time. But if we want to do it for longer, we must make sure that we do it at the right rate to be able to repeat our efforts.

Having one productive week is not good if we pay by messing up the next three weeks. Doing too much charity today will leave us with less or nothing to offer tomorrow. Doing too less for others now will give them no reason to be there for us later. Everything has to be balanced if we want to repeat it. As I said, I became conscious of this quite recently, and I have made many changes in my lifestyle since then.

Let’s start with the rules you see on the home page of this website. After a while, I started writing again about a month ago. I was feeling very lonely. I wanted to share my thoughts with someone but I didn’t want to talk to people. I had a lot of things to share so I was writing too frequently, which messed up my schedule. I couldn’t have continued like that because I was not doing the essential things – sleep, work, rest, etc. Moreover, I was writing only about my daily activities. I wanted to write about my thoughts as well in a structured manner like I am doing today. I was spending all the time on blog posts, so there was no time left for writing the ‘article’ posts. That’s why I made the rules one month ago.

I allowed myself to write only on the weekends, so that I had the time for other things I wanted to do on the week days. I go for sports on the week days. I read in the night. I spend time in the kitchen on cooking and cleaning. I go to bed early so that I get enough rest and a good night’s sleep. I get to disconnect from this website for a few days, so it doesn’t occupy my mind the whole week. Now I reserve time for writing on the weekends. That gives me something to look forward to at the end of the week. It doesn’t disrupt my health, my work, so it gives me the peace of mind and the will to keep doing it every week.

This was about my hobbies. I also made some rules to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I must sleep properly. I must be physically and mentally fit. I must entertain myself. I must rest on the weekends so that I have the energy to go back to work on Monday. I must finish the household tasks on the weekend so they don’t disrupt my working schedule, and the other way around for work related tasks. I must not spend too much or too less money, peace of mind, emotions, or time on others because I won’t be able do anything if I mess up myself. I must take care of my parents so that they are physically and mentally healthy, because their issues will have a consequence on my life here. I better make sure that they are happy and healthy. Moreover, I must make arrangements so that they can take care of themselves. I will talk about taking care of the family in another post. I did some of these things when I went home last December. And I am still experimenting with some of the methods. That’s for another post.

Of course, the concept of taking breaks is just this. You must take a break so that you have the energy to repeat it. Take a break from your partner so you don suffocate. Take a break from work so you don’t burn out. Take a break from life – meditate – so that you feel overwhelmed by what’s happening. Take a break from being alone (personally and professionally). Go out and socialise (personally and professionally) so that you get a different perspective. Being out all the time is not good because we also need to have our own thoughts. Being with ourselves all the time is not good because we often don’t see our mistakes.

Nowadays I often ask myself if what I am doing is sustainable. Often the answer is no, so I cut back on the amount of time, money, emotions, peace of mind, or whatever I was going to trade.

Of course, there are also things I am doing too less. I really need a vacation because I have been very stressed for a very long time. Now that my health is back in order, and I have infrastructure in place to maintain it, I need to get in touch with some friends because I don’t want to lose them. I have not been taking care of my family for quite some time the way I want to. Now that I am doing better, I can increase some efforts for them. There are also some things at work that I need to take care of.

I had many things that required urgent attention in the last one month but I focussed on sticking to a healthy lifestyle. I had many reasons to work also on the weekends but I didn’t. I wanted to go slow so that I can be steady as well. I did as much as I could without disrupting my health.

Sports make me feel good. I did just enough sports so that I don’t mess up my household schedule. I left the time for cooking and resting because I can’t do anything if I don’t eat properly. I left Friday free of sports so that I get to enjoy the evening. I the last few weeks, I played video games, I watched a movie, and I went out with some friends. I leave the weekend free of sports because I want to write, I want to travel, I want to do chores, I want to go out in the city.

Talking to my friends and family also makes me feel good, but earlier I used to do that a little too much. I would call them on the week days and that would mess up my schedule. I would end up with less peace of mind and less rest for myself. I would take more time while cooking and cleaning and that meant going to bed quite late. Now I don’t do it. Week days are for myself so that I can work efficiently. I talk to friends and family only on the weekends.

Anyway, now I am bored of writing. I have been writing for the last four hours for both of my websites. I am done for today and this week. I might revisit this topic later.

Ciao!