my days

a blog on my journey

[myydays]

starting midterm szn

hey hey hey!! :D

so midterms are coming up.

september 12th is the day they start and its almost the end of august. 

i wanted to do a little september goals post today (?)

some things i want to work on in september starting from now as well are 

1-waking up much earlier 

2-stretching in the mornings/ doing some form of exercise 

3-making my own breakfast again 

4-being able to study in a flow state.

1- early rise :)

i love love love early mornings, but i cant seem to wake up cheerfully. 

im up until 11 or 12 and i want to ease into a healthy night routine. 

after finishing my work i want to go do my skincare, change into my pajamas, and read for a little. maybe even journal if i have the time.

i miss doing this :)

even if i cant go to bed by 11 or 12 and need to stay up and study (midterm season demands maximizing the time i have!!) i will ensure i don't overexert myself too much, and be able to wind down after im done.

oh and LIMITING CAFFEINE INTAKE, because it affects my sleep skin and digestion in very harmful ways.

im not a caffeine addict. im limiting my caffeine these days.

(okay i tried something out just now.)

usually i say, im addicted to caffeine but im trying to limit myself these days- i was trying to change my behavior whilst still carrying around those same labels and beliefs i had about myself. 

by saying what i just said, i tried to get rid of that belief and start with a clean slate you could say :)

2- morning stretches

in my post about the book ikigai i mentioned a bunch of these movements to do to start your day feeling refreshed. sometimes i do a few rounds of sun salutations, (but theres hardly any sun these days ;sob)

but coming back to what i was saying, i wanted to try some of these movements every morning and experiment with how it impacts my energy levels in my day. because often i end up exhausted out of my mind after just the first day back to school after a weekend :”)

3-making my own breakfast 

i used to make my own breakfast, a fruit bowl and a sandwich, every day. yeah it was the same exact sandwich (I LIKED IT OKAY) but it was a good habit that i slowly grew apart from.

this kinda goes with waking up earlier ofc. 

i used to wake up by 6am, make my breakfast, go shower, eat, pack for school and leave.

it was very calming to just listen to music and get ready in the mornings, but these days i just wake up at 6:40 and get ready whilst my dad makes me something.

4-being able to study in a flow state

studying. alot of studying required to pass midterm season. aaaa. 

as stressful as it is, i want to look into how i can maximize the time i have and enjoy myself whilst studying through productive sessions. :)

well. goals are set. but goals are overrated.

im going to have to focus on my system now.

love,

pav.

[myydays]

ikigai- a review

hello hello hello! im back B)

so recently i read ikigai, my friend bought this book for me actually (she's so cool love her sm)

maybe you've heard about this word. its a japanese word that roughly can be translated to mean- the happiness of always being busy.

in the book they talk about quite a few things, everything is obviously centered around your ikigai. your purpose of life.

that's a very strong statement isn't it? yeah well that's the kind of book it is. 

but its a very wonderful book :)

so i'm going to talk about my key takeaways from this book.

i'm dividing this into 2 aspects, the physical and mental!

physical

-the 80% rule

the japanese have this ‘rule’ where they eat until they are 80% full. this allows them to feel less drowsy and overwhelmed after their meal.

-exercise 

being mindful about our daily routines is difficult. 

i should know - i have literally no physical exercise and i want to change that. 

in the book they've talked about a variety of different gentle movements you can do everyday to feel refreshed and nice :)

some of these movements include

-sun salutations or surya namaskara 

-qigong/chi kung

-shiatsu

-tai chi 

-good sleep

getting good rest is crucial. when you sleep, a hormone called melatonin is generated in our bodies.

this hormone strengthens the immunity, contains an element that can protect against cancer, promotes natural production of insulin, slows onset of alzheimers and also helps prevent osteoporosis and fight heart disease.

sleep is a very powerful thing.

mental 

-flow and what it is

the state of flow can be defined as a state in which one is involved so deeply in an activity they don't care about anything else, and one would go to great lengths to just do this activity.

the power of flow? 

let's say i’m studying a certain subject and really start to focus. maybe you've experienced this as well, i certainly have but not that much. (how to achieve this i'll come to in abit)

you're in such a state where you don't care about anything else other than the subject you're studying. things are registered automatically in your brain. you're enjoying studying and able to absorb pages of your textbook like it's a piece of cake.

how to achieve flow

seven conditions to help you get into that  groove. 

-knowing what to do

-knowing how to do it

-knowing how well you're doing

-knowing where to go

-perceiving challenges 

-perceiving skills

-being free from distraction 

with these strategies, you can try achieving the state of flow yourself.

so. these were my main takeaways from this book, ikigai :))

i hope we can work towards trying out some of these things in our own lives, thank you for reading today!

love, 

pav.

[myydays]

atomic habits- a review

today i'll be reviewing atomic habits by James Clear!!

-this is actually one of my favorite books now :)

clear beautifully illustrates his four step model of habits- cue, craving, response, and reward- which has its roots in terms from something called operant conditioning in psychology. 

in his book he uses this model as the backbone of the steps to make habits that stick.

so there are four steps to making a habit.

-make it obvious

-make it attractive

-make it easy

-make it satisfying

and the inverse which is getting rid of a bad habit:

-make it invisible 

-make it unattractive

-make it difficult 

-make it unsatisfying 

throughout the book he explains how to go about implementing each step in your life, and also includes a variety of very interesting case studies. i loved reading these because i saw how these small tiny actions compounded into MAJOR results. 

i also loved how he took it to a personal level and also talked about a major setback in his own life, and how he got over it and fulfilled his potential.

from an average high schooler who literally got a baseball bat smashed into his face,  he is now a successful author, entrepreneur and photographer. 

(clear makes things clear. get it. do you get the pun.)

i hope i can try and find some habits i can actually carry out using this book, and maybe you could as well ;D

well thats all for today!!

love,

pav.

[myydays]

welc!!

hey! welcome to my days :D

let me start with introducing myself, my name is pav and im a 15 year old- currently in my sophmore year.

i started this blog because ive been wanting to change the dynamic of my days, but thats a really broad statement- and rather profound coming from a 15 year old :)

so what exactly did i do after coming to that decision?

i read some books like atomic habits, the SHED method, and ikigai.

i wanted to explore more on these "self help" books and see where i could start with this goal, I needed some direction.

in my posts youll see 

1- learnings from different books/in general

2- how im applying what ive learnt

3- the 'ups and downs' in this journey.

my goal with this blog is to hold myself accountable and also hopefully reach alot of people my age or around my age, 

and I hope we, as people, can fulfil our potentials slowly but surely :D

i really do hope you enjoy reading my blog!

so thank you for being here, reader.

<3