As I was walking back from picking my daughter up from school, I had a thought: wouldn't be it be cool to have perhaps the coolest Wikipedia biography of all time? Now, I could never do that. After all, what might be considered a good Wikipedia biography changes from person to person. However, this inspires me to start some projects that have quantifiable metrics attached to supplement a 'Wikipedia page'. I'm not actually planning to write one, I just think this would be fun. I'm in the mood for focussing on health and well-being as lately I've been focussing on making cheap, healthy and plant based meals so it feels like a natural continuation.
Previously, I asked ChatGPT for 10 ideas in this domain and it gave me the following list:
Mindfulness and Meditation
To ensure that this week goes well, I'll focus each week on 1 specific metric and right now, being adequately hydrated feels like the one that I should focus on the most.
So, last night I filled up my 2 litre bottle to make it easier for me to wake up and get started.
At 07:00 a.m this morning when my alarm was going off, I did immediately crave a bottle of coke. Now, full disclosure. I must get through perhaps 1 or 2 bottles of cheap supermarket equivalent of Pepsi Max. Yes, I know it’s an issue. Hence this project.
I thought after drinking the first litre in the morning that I would give up for the afternoon. But no, here I am. Polishing off the 2nd litre.
I have also throughout the day had tea and coffee. The coffee was this morning; I always stop by noon and have 3 at max. However, I generally drink tea in the afternoon. At about 19:30 though, I have a cup of relaxing tea. This blend is camomile, rooibos and lavender. I’ve never tried it before, hopefully it’s nice.
It was. And it does invoke a sleepiness of sorts.
I have the same idea going into today. In that, if I prepare the bottle ahead of time then when I wake up I should feel more inclined to drink it. Today though I had a strong craving for a fizzy cola drink. Instead, I have 2 sugary coffees which seems to scratch that craving itch (for now).
I then have a 3rd one and finish my water by 12.
On my lunch breaks, I often head to my local supermarket to pick up groceries for dinner. Today was the same and I found that after coming home I craved a fizzy drink again. However, I filled up my water and kept going.
In the evening, I have 3 cups of tea with 2 sugars. What this means in total then is that over the course of the day, I've had 3 coffees with 2 sugars (6) and 3 teas with 2 teaspoons of sugar (6). All in all today then I've consumed 12 teaspoons worth of added sugar. I don't know how to fix that though? As I genuinely enjoy sweet stuff (albeit at the expense of my teeth).
I didn't fill up my water bottle last night. However, I got up, filled it up and then started the day.
Like yesterday, I had 3 coffees in the morning and then decided to space out my teas across the afternoon. I didn’t have my first cup of tea until dinnertime and then another one shortly afterwards. During the afternoon, I got quite engrossed by searching up wellness. As I come to the end of this first week, it has me looking ahead to next week and I wonder which of the metrics I will look at next.
Water has been easy to track. That is, 2 litres consumed is just 2000ml on the spreadsheet. However, anything else going forward will be harder.
This morning was a bit harder water wise. Last night I had filled up the bottle so that in the morning I could just start the day and not think too much of it. In fact, I'd even had it by the bedside table to ensure that when I woke up, I was good to go. However, a poor nights sleep meant that I woke up just craving something other than water. However, I’ve been good. I had my 3 coffees before lunchtime and then carried on drinking water. It occurs to me as I’m looking to throw together whatever meal I can that next week I ought to be thinking about diet and the foods I’m eating. So, I’ll make that the next weeks task.
Today I was in the office. Previously, I’ve not done all that well with sticking to not drinking fizzy drinks whilst in the office. After all, they’re free. However, today I stuck to drinking water but I also had my morning coffees. I do wish that I could give up adding coffee into my hot drinks and perhaps I will add that into either next week or the following week. Thinking ahead to next week, I’m thinking about which teas to substitute out. Additionally, I’m thinking about the following 2 things to focus on next. I’ll either focus on nutrition and calories or getting more action.
Today I was in the office. Previously, I’ve not done all that well with sticking to not drinking fizzy drinks whilst in the office. After all, they’re free. However, today I stuck to drinking water but I also had my morning coffees. I do wish that I could give up adding coffee into my hot drinks and perhaps I will add that into either next week or the following week. Thinking ahead to next week, I’m thinking about which teas to substitute out. Additionally, I’m thinking about the following 2 things to focus on next. I’ll either focus on nutrition and calories or getting more action.
On Mindfulness: Today can be considered a new week. It means now that it’s been over a week since I last drank fizzy drinks. I’d like to be able to also reduce my caffeine and sugar input but that isn’t the focus of this week (albeit I might look to do something at some point this week), instead this week I want to focus on mindfulness and meditation.
I’m conscious that when people talk about mindfulness, they often default to the Headspace Application (which I will look to do as well), but I think there’s an opportunity here to try and be more mindful at all times. To that extent, I want to have 7 different ideas within this week. The first thing to do will be to retire my AirPods during the next 9 weeks.
I often have these in my ears at all times and if I want to be more present then I want to reduce distractions. I’ll often have these in while listening to YouTube and doing something else. I’ll tuck these under the ottoman bed.
On Hydration: once again I managed to drink 4 litres of water but I also drank perhaps a bit too much tea. In the morning, we didn’t have enough milk for a coffee but then I had 2 homemade ones later. Then I periodically drank tea throughout the afternoon but also drank one after 9 PM when my usual cut off point is well before then. I think going forward, I want to try and drink tea without sugar and/or swap out the sugared tea and coffee for herbal teas and green teas.
On Mindfulness: Today I had the perfect opportunity to practice a ‘mindful walk’. I had to walk 50 minutes one way and 50 minutes back and did so without my headphones. I enjoyed the free time to think. Although it doesn’t feel ‘productive’ I was able to reflect on how the day had gone, what went well and what didn’t. This has inspired an idea for the future but that will be a different project. On that note, I am beginning journalling today. I have 4 questions that I want to focus on. Additionally, this week I will begin mediating.
On Hydration: today I have also managed to drink my water tolerance. I find that water and 3 teas and coffees are my absolute limit in terms of drinks. I would like to experiment with only drinking water at some point but also try to reduce my sugar intake. What I might do is move from 2 teaspoons of sugar to 1. I’d also like to swap out some of those caffeine drinks with green tea. Although I won’t say that I feel better for drinking water, I don’t feel worse for it. I am enjoying my commitment to it.
