NOTE: From time to time, I turn to you (yes, all of you) when I have no idea about what to write on this blog. Feel free to drop an email or DM me on Instagram if you have any ideas/questions for the blog!
Q: HOW TO PRACTICE MINDFULNESS IN OUR DAILY LIVES?
A: First of all, I love this question because it has the word ‘practice’ in it! Personally, I believe that mindfulness is a practice. It’s not a permanent state of being. It’s an ephemeral thing we would need to cultivate on a daily basis with a healthy dose of discipline, patience, kindness, gratitude, and a spark of joy, to keep it alive–the way we would care for a house plant.
***
Below, I will share the 3 things I do to practice mindfulness on a daily basis. Feel free to adopt these into your life when you see fit.
1. DO ONE THING AT A TIME
Although in various occasions I am proud of my ability to multi-task, to practice mindfulness, I choose to do one thing at a time. To concentrate and focus on one thing–no matter how small or trivial it is: boiling a cup of tea, eating, conversing with friends via instant messenger, planning my day.
The idea is to respect each task or activity on its own and give it its slot of uninterrupted time and attention.
This means to simply focus on eating and enjoying your meals, instead of enjoying your meals while watching Netflix, listening to podcasts, or conversing with friends.
I always find myself capable of finishing a bag of chips or a carton of popcorn effortlessly while watching movies or reading novels. But when I have a bag of chips or a carton of popcorn with me, without any distractions, I realized that in less than 20 seconds, my cravings have been satiated.
Start by selecting several activities each day to practice, and notice how you feel.
2. SLOW DOWN
Everyone has their own idea of ‘slowing down’, but the basic idea is not to be in a hurry–so we can turn off our fight or flight mode. Imagine how you would react to a similar situation–for instance, a traffic jam–when you are in a hurry and when you are not in a hurry.
‘Slowing down’ helps us to get connected to that inner calm inside of us, that is not hurrying, rushing, or buzzing.
This can mean anything from slowing down your breathing to slowing down your car, from slowing down and pause for 10 seconds before you type a comment on someone’s feed to slowing down by taking a break from work. This can also mean talking slower, reacting slower, or walking slower.
3. OBSERVE INSTEAD OF JUDGE
There’s a difference between thinking: “there are unwashed plates piling on the kitchen” and “the owner of this kitchen is lazy and dirty” or “this kitchen is a total disaster“.
When we observe, we see what is. When we judge, we see what we want (or have been taught) to see.
When we observe, the sky is gray. When we judge, the weather sucks–or, on the contrary, the sky looks so romantic. When we observe, that woman skipped the queue. When we judge, that woman is rude, uneducated, someone needs to teach her a lesson or shout at her because that is so unacceptable. When we observe, this city has many old buildings. When we judge, this city is so beautiful.
When we judge something for better or worse, we are sticking ‘labels’ into it based on our histories, our upbringings, our preferences, our experiences, or even our traumas. When we observe, we learn to recognize things as they are; instead of what we think they are.
Next time you’re standing in front of a mirror, or talking to a colleague at work, or even walking around the street, try to notice whether you are observing or judging.
***
Do you have any tips on practicing mindfulness in your daily life? What are some of the things that become a part of your daily mindfulness practice? I would love to hear from you!
When someone asks me what I usually do when I am sad or angry, I would say: “Cleaning the bathroom while crying my eyes out!”
It was a joke. Well, actually, half a joke.
I do find comfort in cleaning, decluttering, or tidying up anything I could think of (not only the bathroom!), especially when I am sad or angry.
I have no idea why I am actually drawn to these activities when I am feeling down. Maybe because the act of cleaning and decluttering provides me a false sense of control (I got this!). Or because it gives me the opportunity to still be sad (or angry) in a (more) positive way.
Or maybe, the act of throwing broken (or forgotten) things out–reminds me of how I can actually let go of things that no longer serve me and my growth in life. Maybe, the vigorous regimen of brushing, scrubbing, and wiping dusty surfaces that follow makes me feel as if I were cleansing myself, emotionally (tears–my organic & natural cleansing agent). Maybe, the painstaking effort in organizing my stuff and tidying up my space is supposed to tell me that it can be done. That now, I can also reorganize my priorities and tidy-up my life (or, more frequently, heart).
I guess, cleaning, decluttering, and tidying up has been my go-to ritual to deal with my (hurt) feelings and my (chaotic) state of being.
***
At a conference I participated in a few years ago, I heard this idea about how we can change our internal state by changing our external environment.
The underlying premise is simple: it’s easier to change things externally than internally; however, when you change your external environment–this change can also affect your internal state.
OK, let’s take an example. Imagine yourself, going about your daily lives. One day, you’re going around in your most comfortable outfit (for me this means sleeveless blouse/shirt, jeans, and sneakers), and on another day, you’re going around doing more or less the same stuff–in a really neat or delicate outfit (maybe an evening gown, or a formal suit). Can you get a sense of how you might act, think, or feel differently–just because you’re wearing a different outfit?
Or imagine yourself working from a plain white cubicle, then working at a cafe with lovely jazz music in the background, and then working from a noisy pub. Do you think there’s a shift in your mental/emotional state as you’re changing your workstation from one place to the next?
That is more or less the premise behind the ‘outside-in’ idea. When we have no idea how to change our internal state of being, change our external environment to get closer to the feeling we’d like to feel.
If we want to feel happy, or healthy (or wealthy, creative, confident, anything, really) but we don’t know how to get there ‘internally’, change our external environment. Change the way we dress, the way we speak, the way we spend our time, our morning routine, our social circle, our daily habits, to feel that way. What kind of outfit change could make us feel a bit more creative? What kind of morning routine could make us feel a bit healthier? What kind of people we could surround ourselves with that could make us feel a bit happier?
In this case, cleaning, decluttering, and tidying-up has become my ‘outside-in’ way of changing my internal state by mirroring it through my external environment. When I am sad or angry or feeling down in general, I can’t think of ways to clean, declutter, or tidy up my mental/emotional state. And so, I clean, declutter, and tidy up the bathroom, the bedroom, my drawers… until I feel something shifting inside of me.
***
The absence of broken things and piles of rubbish makes me feel like a big burden has just been lifted out of my shoulders. Empty spaces, racks, or drawers, makes me feel like I can breathe deeply and effortlessly. Gleaming surfaces makes me feel light and in control.
As everything is being placed neatly, right where they are supposed to be placed, I feel as if I am also experiencing that. Everything eventually falls into place, and I am back to where I am supposed to be.
PS: In my next post, I will write about organizing my simple wedding in Amsterdam, and why I choose Paperless Post for my wedding invitation.
NOTE: From time to time, I turn to you (yes, all of you) when I have no idea about what to write on this blog. Feel free to drop an email or DM me on Instagram if you have any ideas/questions for the blog!
Q: How to leave a toxic relationship?
Disclaimer: I am only sharing my personal take/experience related to this issue. I am not an expert, so please do not consider this post as your final answer. Take it with a grain of salt, do your own research, and reach out to an expert/authority figure if you need professional help to get out of a toxic relationship.
A: I guess I would answer this question with another question: “What makes you stay in that toxic relationship?”
I believe that to know how to leave a toxic relationship, we need to know why we’re staying there in the first place.
Dr. Lillian Glass, a California-based communication and psychology expert, says that a toxic relationship is consistently unpleasant and draining for the people in it, to the point that negative moments outweigh and outnumber the positive ones.
Dr. Kristen Fuller, a California-based family medicine physician who specializes in mental health, adds that toxic relationships are mentally, emotionally and possibly even physically damaging to one or both participants. And these relationships don’t have to be romantic: Glass says friendly, familial and professional relationships can all be toxic as well.
With that being said, logically, we know that we need to get out of a toxic relationship. That’s crystal clear. The problem is, we don’t always feel like we’re capable of getting ourselves out of that relationship, for many different reasons (one can be more complicated than another).
However, most of the time, it’s fear. We are afraid to leave.
What do you get out of that relationship?
We’re afraid of leaving that relationship because we believe that despite being toxic, we get something out of that relationship. Maybe we get the feeling of being loved, assurance, friendship, comfort, a sense of familiarity, security, or financial support. The fear is about missing these things in our lives if we decided to leave the toxic relationship.
Now, the question is, how can you get those things you (think) you need outside of this relationship? How can you give yourself those things? Are there other people that can provide you with those things and who are they? How can you get them to help you?
Make plans on how you can get those things that you need (or want) outside of your toxic relationship. Get it from other people, or get it from yourself. Once you know that you can have the things you need outside of your toxic relationship, you’ll gain the confidence you need to leave. You won’t be afraid to leave anymore because you know that what you need (or want) can still be obtained outside of that toxic relationship.
This is what I did to leave a toxic relationship I was once in.
Do you think this toxic relationship poses a serious threat to your life, either physically, emotionally, or mentally?
If yes, immediately reach out to a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a social worker/activist, or an authority figure you respect. If that sounds like too much of a stretch, reach out to a friend or family member you trust. Yes, it can be hard, but do it. Save yourself. Your life matters. Love and respect yourself by seeking help to get out of the relationship as soon as possible.
Cutting ties.
While you’re in the process of getting out of a toxic relationship, when possible, I find it best to totally cut ties with the other person. Do not stay with them, be with them, talk to them, or meet them. For me, this is important to prevent me from swaying or changing my minds (oh, maybe s/he’ll change. oh, this time s/he promised. oh, s/he said sorry).
It will be more difficult and more challenging to get out of the toxic relationship if we are frequently in touch with the other person. Their pull can still be so strong, and we’re risking ourselves to get sucked back into that relationship again.
However, if it’s impossible to totally cut ties with the other person at the moment, try reducing your time/interaction with him/her. Surround yourself with people that make you feel good. Sign yourself up to join various activities that you love. In the meantime, reach out to the people you trust and make plans about how you can distance yourself from this person.
But, I love him/her. I want to help him/her.
I know that this, sometimes, becomes our excuse to go back into a toxic relationship (I was guilty of this!). However, we need to know that we can’t love them if we can’t love ourselves. And we can’t help them when we have terribly wounded ourselves. The best thing to do is to love ourselves first by healing our wounds and nursing ourselves back to health. Once we’re completely healed and strong, once we’ve gained our confidence that we can be completely OK outside of that toxic relationship, then we can decide if we want to ‘help’ the other person, or if we want to get connected/interact with them again.
NOTE: From time to time, I turn to you (yes, all of you) when I have no idea about what to write on this blog. Feel free to drop an email or DM me on Instagram if you have any ideas/questions for the blog! This post is to answer a question from @gendutsantiago
Q: How to be consistent with journaling?
A: I think the first step would be to answer these 2 questions:
Why do you think you need to journal?
Why do you think you need to be consistent with it?
I actually keep several ‘journals’ and I journal in them for different reasons.
MY JOURNALS & WHAT I USE THEM FOR
I have a private journal that serves as a diary, to write down my deepest thoughts and feelings whenever I feel the need to unload those things from my chest (or my brain).
I also have a decorated journal which I adorned with stickers, stamps, and collages–the one I shared online via my Instagram or YouTube channel. I work on this journal whenever I feel the need to wind down by doing something creative with my hands.
I have my messy ‘work journal‘ that mimics the functionality of a bullet journal, and I have it next to me whenever I am working. It’s my go-to journal to track the progress, to-dos, payments, and other stuff related to the clients I’m working with or the personal projects I’m working on. It also serves as a medium for me to think ‘on-paper’ about other work-related stuff, like generating ideas for communications training, drawing an outline of a proposal (or a new book), recording meeting results, or planning my moves for the next 3 months.
A journal I updated on a daily basis is my daily highlight journal.
It simply records what I do on a particular day: waking up (at what time), how do I feel upon waking up, where do I go, what am I working on, who do I meet, what do I buy (if any), what do I have for lunch and dinner, what book I am reading, what time I go to sleep. Just mundane things that I summarize in 1-2 word(s)/line(s): Wake up late. Coffee. Silent time. Re-read The Four Agreements. Shower. Editing works. Reorganize my drawer.
Sure, sometimes there are big things: like being proposed, signing a new project, or traveling to someplace nice; but on most days, just simple things.
I have been writing in this journal since the middle of last year, and I am enjoying it so much! As I am working on this journal, I can review how my day goes (do I like it? do I need to do something else tomorrow?) and as I am flipping back through my previous days, I can see how each day is actually unique.
I guess we tend to compress our weeks, months, or years into a few ‘big’ moments, life-changing experiences, or amazing encounters. But recording my days on a daily basis helps me to cherish and remember each day as its own. The practice also allows me to be mindful of how my day unfolds.
MY THOUGHTS ON ‘BEING CONSISTENT’
I think if we understand why we do certain things and can see the value they bring into our lives, we’ll find more reasons (and motivations) to be consistent.
Sure, we can force ourselves to be consistent and be disciplined about keeping up with our practice (like journaling, for instance), but what’s the point of doing so if we don’t gain any benefit from that practice? However, if we can feel the benefit of any practice, we have all the reasons to be consistent with it, because we can feel its positive impact on our lives.
With that being said, I also need to let you know that I think, ‘being consistent’ is not equal to ‘doing things on a daily basis’.
Sometimes I missed updating my daily highlight journal when I’m traveling or on a road trip, but I immediately record those 2 or 3 days I have skipped when I have the time. Thus I can always catch up. I work on my other journals only when I feel the need or the urge to do so. Sometimes I fill them up every day for a month, and some other times I do not touch them for a week, a month, 2 months.
But it doesn’t matter, because I know I’ll come back to them when I need them.
THE PRACTICE OF JOURNALING FEEDS MY SOUL
It helps me to let things go (and let some things in), to detach myself from my noisy and chaotic monkey mind, to reflect on my life, to remember the things I thought I have forgotten, to discover something new about myself, to record my fleeting thoughts and feelings (and mood swings), to spark my creativity, to have fun.
Thus, I am still coming back to my journaling practice whenever I feel the calling to do it.
When I was young, I used to get ‘trapped’ in the prince-charming mindset: that there will come a man with all the qualities and criteria I have ever dreamed of to love me and to make me happy.
But here are the flaws in that:
We put the effort in ‘finding’ the ‘right’ man who meets our criteria.
The man who meets our criteria may or may not be interested in us.
The man who meets our criteria and ends up being in a relationship with us may not bring us the love and happiness we thought he would!
I think the biggest flaws is that the prince-charming mindset focuses on finding or searching for ‘the right man’, an external factor that is out of our control.
When I started to do more sessions in writing/journaling for self-discovery, I found a better way to approach this. I asked myself 2 things:
how would the ideal relationship I want to experience look/feel like? (detailing the qualities, feelings, and activities I’d like to experience in the relationship itself–NOT about the man)
how can I improve myself so I can offer that kind of relationship to the people I love/care about?
Doing this shifted my focus from ‘searching for the right man’ to ‘creating the feeling/qualities I’d like to experience in a relationship’. It made me feel more like an active participant rather than a passive one, and in a way, more empowered.
What about you? Have you ever experienced something similar? Have you ever met a man that seems to meet your ‘criteria’ but the relationship doesn’t flourish? Or what is your take about the issue?
I have spent the last few weeks in 2018 to rest, relax, and reflect. Mostly, I choose to stay at home or catch up with my closest friends, read some books, or plan the upcoming year, clean my space ,and sip loads of nutmeg and turmeric latte.
I have also gone a bit absent from social media, especially Twitter and Facebook (have deleted these 2 applications from my phone), and for the past week, I haven’t published anything on Instagram (but still checking some new updates from friends on my feed for 10-15 minutes every day).
I would like to simply enjoy the feeling of being me, of being alone, of reconnecting with myself, of doing things for the sake of doing it–not for social media.
This New Year’s Eve, I am at home, reflecting on 2018 and setting my intention for 2019. I always prefer a quiet New Year’s Eve, because I love the feeling of ‘closing the year’ with solitude and serenity–writing how I feel, what I think, and how I’d like the upcoming year to be.
I once wrote about creating a feeling-based New Year’s Resolution, and today I want to write about this topic again–since I have extended my previous approach; making it more effective and efficient for me. It all begins with this question:
WHY MOST OF OUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FAIL?
There are 3 reasons I can think of, based on my experience:
They are too big/overwhelming. Most of the time, we tend to set up huge goals for the upcoming year and overestimate our capabilities to achieve those goals. On another note, this could also be our way of self-sabotaging ourselves: by setting a goal that is too big, we would feel less guilty if we fail to achieve it–precisely because we can tell ourselves that the goal is just too big/overwhelming.
They are insignificant. If we set a certain goal/resolution, but our lives will still be relatively okay even if we don’t achieve that goal/resolution, we won’t have enough drive to pursue this goal. Often times, we set goals that would be nice to achieve, but the goal is not that important/significant for our lives. (Think about the goal of ‘losing weight’ because we think it-will-make-us-look-better vs we-can-get-hospitalized-if-we-don’t-lose-weight; can you feel how different the level of motivation would be?)
They are never ours in the first place. Yes, sometimes our goals/resolutions are the things we thought we should want. Maybe these goals are something the society believes to be great or something our parents would be proud of. It could be something that our peers desire. We choose a particular goal, thinking that is what we want, but actually, it’s what other people want–we just feel as if we need to want that same goal to conform.
ONE MISTAKE I DID IN MY PREVIOUS YEAR’S RESOLUTION SETTING
In the previous year, I also did the mistake of not reflecting or evaluating on my life before making any resolutions for the upcoming year. I would hurriedly list down all my wishes and desires like an impatient child writing a letter to Santa Claus; without being clear about what I really need to focus on.
We need to know where we are to better navigate our way to where we want to be.
So, this year, I started out by evaluating and scoring 12 areas of my life:
Physical/health. Am I healthy? Do I exercise? Do I eat well? Do I sleep well?
Emotional/mental health. How do I manage my emotions? Do I have mood swings? Do I get stressed easily? Do I feel tension or anxiety?
Career. Do I enjoy what I do? Is this how I want to grow professionally? Do I get fair compensation for my work? Do I attract clients I like?
Financial/wealth. Do I have enough money to fulfill my responsibilities? Do I have enough savings for rainy days? Do I manage my money well? Do I spend my money wisely? Do I feel financially secure?
Family & friends. Do I spend enough quality time with them? How is my relationship with them? Do I feel comfortable to be around them? Do I like them? Are they supportive or toxic?
Love & relationships. Do I feel loved? Am I a loving person? Do I spend quality time with my partner? How do we connect with one another? Am I content in this relationship? Can I trust my partner?
Environment. Do I like the place where I stay/its surroundings? Do I enjoy spending my time here, in this venue/room/house/office? Can I feel content staying in this environment?
Intellectual/creativity. Do I grow intellectually/creatively? Do I learn new things or master new skills? Do I feel challenged intellectually/creatively?
Enjoyment/entertainment. Can I rest and relax? Do I have enough me-time? Do I have time for self-care? Am I happy about how I spend my holiday? Do I have a hobby that I enjoy? Do I feel like I have enough time, means, and opportunities to have fun, recharge, and refresh?
Spiritual. Do I feel connected with something else apart from the material world? How is my relationship with myself, with Source, with God? Do I feel faithful or doubtful? Do I have peace of mind?
Meaning/contribution. Do I inject meanings in the work that I do? Do I live a meaningful life? Do I have any contribution to anyone apart from myself? Do I make a difference?
Social/communal. Do I feel like I belong to something? Can I feel at-home and at-ease in my community? Do I enjoy being a part of a certain group/community? Do I share certain interests/concerns with other people/groups?
The next thing I do is scoring these 12 areas of my life.
Because when we need to score on a scale of 1 – 5 we don’t have the means to explain how 4 is different from 5, or how 1 is different than 3, I came up with these scoring explanations:
5 – Of course I want things to be better or to improve (who doesn’t?), but even if they stay the way they are for the upcoming year, I am still okay with that.
4 – It’s quite good, actually. But I know I haven’t given my best in this particular area.
3 – It’s okay. Not that bad, but I am not happy if things stay the way they are for the upcoming year.
2 – There are some problems here. I hope I can have a better experience or be more at ease in this area of my life.
1 – I don’t like this at all. I am can’t wait to see changes/improvements.
With this 1 – 5 scale as a guide, I start scoring the 12 areas of my life.
When I finish, I choose 3 areas with the lowest score that I’d like to work on in the upcoming year. If there are more than 3 areas with a similar lowest score, I will have to choose 3 things I’d like to prioritize and focus on.
THE FRAMEWORK OF WISH/DESIRE – BE/FEEL – DO/EXPERIENCE
Once I have decided on the 3 areas of life I’m not happy about–the ones I want to change/improve in the upcoming year, I transfer that particular area into this 3-column framework:
In the 1st column, I write down my wish/desire about that particular area. How is the ideal situation would look like? What kind of improvement do I want when it comes to this area of life? I just write the ideal vision I have related to this area of my life.
In the 2nd column, I write down how I would be or how I would feel if I have achieved my wishes/desires in column 1. Am I going to be a different person? How? Am I going to feel differently? How? How am I going to change from the inside if I have achieved my desired reality? How am I going to think about myself if my desires have manifested?
In the 3rd column, I write down what would I do or experience on a daily basis if I have achieved my wishes/desires in column 1, and have become the person in column 2. How would I act in different situations (at work, at home, among friends, etc.)? What are the things I could do or experience? How does it change my day-to-day habit/interaction? What can I contribute to others?
>> If until this point you haven’t done the exercise above, I would strongly recommend you to do so! Grab a pen and paper, then do the exercise before continuing reading this post! <<
CONCENTRATING NOT ON THE WISHES/DESIRES, BUT ON THE FEELINGS & EXPERIENCES
Next, I look at my answers in column 2 and 3, and for my resolutions setting in 2019, I ask myself:
What is the one thing I can do in a year, in a month, in a week, in a day, in 2 hours, to get me closer to the things I wrote in column 2 or 3?
To my surprise, a lot of the things in column 2 and 3 can be injected into my life through many different ways or means–without having to rely on the achievement of that particular wish/desire! And look at your column 3, specifically–are there things you can already do right now?
Most of the time, we are blinded by our overwhelming wishes and desires, having no clarity in why we want the things we want. Column 3 is the simple things we want in our daily lives, something that we can do or experience if we choose to do so. It’s the window to have a peek into why we want the things we desire, and surprisingly, most of the time, we only want the simple things. The one little thing that can make our days more meaningful and enjoyable.
So, cheers to simple New Year’s resolutions, to tiny steps to get closer to the person we have always wanted to be, and to those little sparks of joy that we can bring into our lives at any moment now.
I published this illustration on Instagram yesterday, and it seemed like the message resonated with a lot of you. Thus, I decided to post that illustration here, along with a chapter from my interactive playbook, Break, Hearts.
I used to think that love is synonymous with ‘sacrifice’.
I could still remember the pride that was swelling inside of my broken heart from being able to say: “I’ve sacrificed so much for him!”–as if by sacrificing more, I had won a nonexistent competition to prove my significant contribution to the relationship; while the other party contributed much less. So, I sacrificed more to show how I can love more and to be loved more. I hurt my feelings to protect other people’s feelings.
Only in the past few years have I realized that love is not about sacrificing something–or someone. It’s not about succumbing to anything–or anyone. We don’t have to choose who or what to be sacrificed to be able to love (and to be loved).
Love should be a win-win instead of a win-lose. A relationship is not a matter of mutual sacrifice. It’s about being able to compromise. And yes, it took me a long time to understand the difference between the two.
When I love from a broken heart and hurt feelings, I came from the mindset of lack. Therefore, when I have to share the love inside of me, it has to feel like a sacrifice–because now that I’ve shared it, I ended up with less.
When I learned how to love from a heart that is full and content (because self-love has become my top priority), I realize that loving could leave me with a whole functioning heart–not only a fraction of it. It’s not a sacrifice. It’s a pleasure. There’s so much love inside of me to give; I can’t help but sharing it with the people I love.
There are times when picking ourselves up after a heartbreak feels almost impossible. We feel as if we’ve lost ourselves. We feel as if the version of ourselves—the one when we were in a relationship—is missing. Strange. Because we cannot lose ourselves, can we?
But, the truth is: we can.
At certain stages in our lives, we can lose sight of our real selves. It is particularly for this reason that we have the term ‘self-discovery’—a journey to rediscover ourselves. But how do we lose sight of ourselves in the first place?
Most of the time, by pretending to be someone else.
We pretend to be someone we’re not to please others or to receive their approval. Some of us play this role for so long to the point where we start to believe that we are who we pretend to be.
Fake it until you make it, they said.
This is precisely what some of us are doing.
We are pretending to be the version of ourselves that—we believe—will be approved by others more, will be wanted by others more, will be loved by others more.
For this reason, a lot of us enter a relationship by pretending to be someone we’re not. We are doing the things we don’t typically do, behaving the way we don’t usually behave, and tolerating stuff we often won’t tolerate.
We are obsessed to find out what our significant other like or dislike, want or do not want. We believe that if only we knew all these, then we can present ourselves as an ideal partner. We are not confident that appearing as our true selves will interest our significant other enough.
Thus, throughout the relationship, we keep molding and readjusting ourselves to please our significant other: craving for their approval. The problem started to kick in when we were tired of putting on a show and realized that we have turned into the person we are not.
In such uncomfortable situations, our real selves sometimes appear, to the point that during fights or argumentations, our significant other might say: “It feels like I don’t know you anymore.”
Which, to this extent, might be valid.
On a day-to-day basis throughout our relationship, we might have presented ourselves as someone else. Someone we thought would better suit our significant other. We’ve been wearing masks.
However, who is it that our significant other truly loves? Our masks or ourselves? If we appear in front of our significant other unmasked, do we think he or she would still recognize us—let alone love us?
At the tipping point when we realize that we have repressed our true selves only to please our significant other, a word makes itself visible: sacrifice.
We feel as if we’ve made sacrifices throughout our relationship. Sometimes, we ask, “Why am I the only one who make these sacrifices?”
But here’s a hard pill to swallow: love should not feel like a sacrifice.
Sacrifice means one person gets nothing while the other person gets everything. If it feels unfair, we are right. It is unfair.
The more we sacrifice, the more we got frustrated with our relationship, with our significant other, and ourselves. The more we sacrifice, the more we’re losing ourselves.
The thing I’ve learned throughout the years is this: in a healthy relationship, we do not need to make sacrifices.
Since I was little, I have always wanted to be a writer. I grew up reading Blyton, Lindgren, and Hitchcock, wanting to be just like them—having the ‘superpower’ to create a parallel world and transport people to experience different lives and undergo different adventures. I spent my teenage days writing stories. During the weekends, I typed and typed and typed, only went to bed at around 4 or 5 am with a jittery feeling of not knowing how the story will end.
When later in life some of my short stories and travel narratives got published in an omnibus by two of Indonesia’s major publishers, I was so proud. It was like an achievement in itself: a dream come true. When I caught a glimpse of those omnibus on the shelves of a bookstore, I thought to myself, “Now I can really call myself a writer!”
But here’s the thing: I don’t feel like a writer anymore.
I posted a question on Instagram a few days ago as I was pondering about this issue, and I’m so relieved that some of you are kind enough to let me know that you are also facing the same dilemma and even share your struggles.
Have you ever felt trapped by the label you gave to yourself? Have you ever felt as if you’ve outgrown the label?
I didn’t know when the label ‘WRITER’ started to bother me, but it must have been getting on my nerves for the past few years. Not that I am not into writing anymore—on the contrary, I am still writing and I can’t stop thinking of future book projects (something is brewing for the end of the year!). However, oddly, these days the ‘writer’ label I have glued unto myself feels somewhat suffocating. When I have to speak in front of an audience or delivering a workshop, when the organizer introduced me as a writer, I feel like a fraud, a liar.
“But, why?” you might ask.
I don’t know. I can’t precisely pinpoint the reasons: maybe because I don’t feel like I have been productive. Maybe because I have experienced the feeling of ‘being a published writer’ and now that I have known the feeling I was no longer curious. Maybe because I wanted to do more than ‘just writing’. Maybe because I’m a little bit bored with this whole ‘writing thing’. Maybe because I have just started expanding my creative expressions to drawing and filming. Maybe because that label feels too limiting and doesn’t give me enough room to experiment in life.
Whatever the reasons might be, it’s not about reasoning at all. It’s more about how I feel; no matter how irrational it might sound.
The thing is, lately, I have learned to trust my feelings and rely on them more. I mean, who am I to call myself a ‘writer’ when I don’t feel like one?
Only then it dawned on me that I was the one who gave this label to myself. Even if the label was attached to me by someone else (publisher, workshop organizers, etc.), I was the one who decided to embrace the label, voluntarily. Thus, I actually have the power to ditch the label when it no longer suits me. I can bid the label farewell. I don’t have to walk around carrying the label on my shoulders when it feels too heavy. When I decided to drop the label, I don’t have to conform to what other people might expect from that particular label.
So, I decided to do it today: to drop the label and not to think of myself as a writer anymore.
I was feeling a bit scared, actually: should I do this?
But then I realized that this is a label I created or embraced for myself. It’s only a label. Just because I decided not to call myself a writer anymore, it doesn’t mean that I can no longer write. Maybe, I can even write more and better once I am done associating myself with the label.
I am having fun trying to find a new label that might fit me better at this stage. Some of you might say, but what’s the point of ditching a label to attach a new label unto yourself? Why can’t we just be humans without labels?
To which I would say: I am trying to get there. To be who I am, no labels attached.
However, for practical reasons, I still need to label myself with something (new). At least for myself, so I won’t feel too lost. Then, of course, to introduce myself to potential clients during meetings or networking events. (Do you know that since I quit my job and work independently, I haven’t printed my name card because I still couldn’t decide what I wanted to put as a title?).
So, after listing down the things I’m doing now (personally and professionally), plus listing down the things I would want to do in the future (personally and professionally), I am happy to attach a new label unto myself.
I am a creator. A creator of experience in life, a creator of content in the digital world.
I think, for the time being, I like the label. It fits me nicely like a new pair of jeans. Surely, just like a new pair of jeans, it’s still a bit stiff (and, you do know that faint smell of ‘the store’, don’t you?). I would need to wear it more, so I can wash it and crack it a little bit to make it even more fitting. Oh, and in the next few days, I will also need to adjust my bio/profile here and on other social media platforms. Indeed, more work and adjustments, but it’s okay.
So, here I am, with my new label, intending to create more playful and meaningful content (or experience) on and off the Internet. When it comes to working, I could say that I help my clients to do just the same—and during workshops, classes, or retreats, I am basically sharing about the same thing.
On another note, maybe I’ll also get tired of this label one day and granted myself a new one in the next 3, 5, or 10 years. Who knows? However, I guess that’s the point.
Life is about forever rediscovering something new about ourselves. It’s about growing and evolving. And why should we feel bad about retiring an old label? We’re not supposed to feel bad when we’re retiring a piece of clothing that has become too tight or too worn out for us, aren’t we?
With that being said, maybe I can start designing my name card and get them printed out next week.
PS: If you could drop a label that has burdened your life lately, what would that label be, and what would you embrace as a new label?
How did you start journaling in the first place? How do you split your time between other parts of life (daily tasks, work, responsibilities, etc.) and journaling? How do you design your time-tracker journal, and how can I create my own?
When I uploaded an Instagram story about my time-tracker journal and an Instagram picture about my planner a few weeks ago, some of you asked some questions about journaling and making a time-tracker journal for yourself. Since it would be such a nuisance to type the answer on Instagram’s comment section, I decided to respond to those questions via this blog post. Hope this helps.
How did I start journaling?
I started journaling in the 1st grade of elementary school. It started out when my mother bought me a diary with a lock (the cutest thing!) and since then, I never stopped writing in my journals. I have quite a huge pile of journals at the moment, all those handwritings from early elementary school days throughout the rest of my childhood, from my adolescence to my twenties. And sometimes, I reread them: amazed at how much I’ve grown throughout the years.
I guess writing (and mostly journaling), has always been my go-to outlet for self-discovery. A few years ago, I wrote this post about why I write and why it has such a profound effect on me, so you can visit that post if you’re interested to know more about how I chose writing as my outlet of expression (or, on how writing chose me).
How do I split my time between journaling and other parts of life (daily tasks, work, responsibilities, etc.)?
Okay, here’s the thing: journaling, writing, and other creative pursuits—whether it’s drawing, painting, learning how to make illustrations–are the things that I need in life. When people talk about self-care, they might talk about taking a vacation, traveling, pampering themselves, eating healthy food, going to the gym, having a wonderful time with friends and families, or doing other things that make them feel happy and fulfilled. For me, having the time to be creative (and to create) is my way to take good care of myself. It feeds my soul.
When I’m stressed, sad, facing problems, agitated, or not feeling well, having my creative time is the thing that lifts me up. It could be as simple as reading a good book, trying a new recipe, drawing, writing a poem, or simply journaling and dumping my thoughts and feelings on the pages. For me, creative time equals self-care, and having my creative time makes me feel happy, empowered, (somewhat) artistic, and productive.
Having the time to be creative is my way to take a good care of myself. I need it. It’s crucial for my well-being.
I always feel the most productive when I am having a creative time. No matter how busy I am with work, no matter how excited I am about my professional achievements, no matter how many to-do lists and responsibilities I ticked off, at the end of the day, the thing that matters the most to me is how I’ve spent my creative time and what I’ve created that day.
I’m not saying that professional achievements or performing well at work don’t matter as much, but it’s also crucial for me to know that there’s an achievement that is mine; and mine alone. It’s not about being (or looking) busy, getting praise, a salary, a bonus, contributing to a team, or pleasing a client. It’s about exploring my creativity and be content with that—knowing that I am the only person who knows what I have done today, or how much I have grown since yesterday.
With that being said, let’s move on to the question: how do I split my time between work, daily tasks, and journaling?
In the old days, this was how I would do it: when planning my day, I would list down all my work responsibilities, deadlines, meetings, daily tasks, house chores, appointments, etc. and then, when I could find an empty slot of time, I would allocate that slot for my creative time.
Of course, this approach didn’t work for me.
Magically, I would always have more things to do, more emails to reply to, more work stuff coming in, more dishes to wash… and even if I could find an empty slot of time that day, usually I had been so exhausted from fulfilling my duties and responsibilities that I didn’t want to do anything else; let alone ‘being creative’.
So, these past few years, I changed the way I plan my day. Instead of listing down all my work responsibilities, deadlines, meetings, daily tasks, house chores, or appointments to then find an empty slot of time for my creative pursuits, I did the opposite. I would block a slot of time for my creative pursuit first (could be for around 30 minutes – 1 hour), and only then the rest of the empty slots can be filled with my work responsibilities, deadlines, meetings, daily tasks, or other appointments.
Usually, I block my early mornings for my first round of creative time (I called this time of the day my miracle morning, based on the book The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod; and I think you should read this book as well!). I don’t mind waking up a bit earlier to have my slow and miraculous morning: making a cup of coffee, doing a 1-minute meditation, reading a book about drawing, sketching and doing some character studies for my illustrations, journaling, watching uplifting videos, or simply writing about the things I’d like to do/achieve that day.
I plan my day around my self-care, not the other way around. My commitments and responsibilities will fit themselves around it.
Surely, if there are still more unused time slots after this, I can use the time for whatever I want—but planning my day around my creative time (instead of planning my creative time around my day) does the trick for me. By doing this, I can make sure that I stay happy and creative, knowing that I will always have (and make) the time for my self-care routine, and my other responsibilities will fit around it.
Does it sound selfish?
Probably, but I see it this way: when I’m happy, I can also fulfill my responsibilities better. When I’m in a good mood, I am more energetic. I feel inspired and I feel more creative. So whether I’m working on a deadline, talking on the phone for a remote meeting, or doing house chores, I am doing those things in a healthy mental and emotional state. Thus, for me, it makes sense to always put my well-being first, which in my case, is about having my undisturbed creative time.
How did I design my time-tracker journal, and how to create your own?
I designed my time-tracker journal because I want to know whether I’m really busy or just busy being busy. I want to know how do I use up (or waste) my time in a day and what are the things I can achieve mostly from 6 am to 11 pm every day. Where does exactly my time go in a day?
Another thing was that I also want to track the time when I feel most productive and the time when I have an energy slump so I can plan my days better. By keeping a time-tracker journal for some time, I also hope that I could find out if there were some correlations between how I spend my time with my energy level and my overall mood.
For instance, there were days when I feel so tired and sleepy at around 2 pm – 4 pm, but there were also other days when I go through these ‘sluggish hours’ being productive, feeling inspired and energetic.
I wanted to know why this happened, and once knowing that (or at least have a good indication about why it happened), I wanted to know how I could have my productive 2 pm – 4 pm more often. By tracking my time, I wish I could see how to manage my energy better. (If you’re interested in the concept of managing energy to improve your performance, I would suggest the book The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz).
I created my time-tracker journal on a weekly insert I bought here and stamped the hours with this stamp set. Because I wanted to measure the correlation between how I spend my time and how it affects my mood and energy level, I decided to color-code my time-tracker with my KOI coloring brush pen.
Pink is for a productive time when I feel creative and energetic. This includes the time when I work, replying to business emails, reading a non-fiction book, learning languages, drawing, exercising, writing, or doing other creative stuff. My creative time is counted as a productive time.
Blue is for my non-productive time when I feel tired, sleepy, or lethargic. This includes the time of scrolling social media feed mindlessly, following threads and comments on a controversial Facebook status, taking a long nap, or feeling down, miserable, uninspired, or sick.
Yellow is for my social & commuting time when I meet people, get on a bus, hop on a red-eye flight, attend a dinner party, have a catch-up lunch with friends, or delivering training and workshops.
This is how I formatted my time-tracker journal, but of course, you can do it however you like and adjust it to your needs. For instance, you can choose a different layout using a normal notebook, list down the hours from top to bottom, and write down the things you do next to it. You can also use color-coding to track other things you want to track in your life. It just happens that I want to track my energy level, so I decided to go with this tracking system.
Then, basically what I do with my time-tracker journal is as simple as writing down the things I do at a particular time of the day, and color code the hours with pink, blue, or yellow.
After keeping the time-tracker journal for more than 2 months, I can already see some patterns, such as:
When my morning starts with a blue (i.e. I woke up feeling sluggish/tired/grumpy), 80% of the time, it will lead to more blues in the afternoon/evening. Knowing this, when I woke up with a blue, I put extra efforts to fix it: maybe treating myself to an extra hour of drawing instead of immediately replying to business emails, listening to cheerful songs to lift up my mood, or making pretty-looking oatmeal for breakfast.
When I have a big lunch followed by a passive activity (reading, watching videos, etc.), I would also get blues between 2 pm – 4 pm. However, when I have a light lunch followed by hours of doing things (working, washing dishes, tidying my drawer, planning my to-do lists for the next day, journaling, etc.) I would not hit the blues.
When I have loads of yellows on my day, 90% of the time, it will lead to a few hours of blues the next day. When I had to deliver a 3-day workshop a month back, I found out that the next 2 days following that 3-day workshop was filled with blues. I have always known, instinctively, that although I love meeting people, those interactions drained me up. I always feel the need to clam up and recharge before being able to be a social butterfly once more. The time-tracker journal confirmed this need. Thus, when I know I will have a big day full of work deadlines, I would decline any social get-together the day before. Or if I know I will have a full social calendar on the weekend, I would not set up a project deadline on the following Monday or Tuesday; knowing full-well that I would need to recuperate.
When I work on a creative project from around 6 pm onwards, I would not feel hungry or crave a big dinner. Most of the time, I forgot about dinner altogether because I was too absorbed in the activity.
When I go to bed after 11 pm, 80% of the time, I would wake up with blues the next morning.
When I spend a lot of time mindlessly scrolling on social media (more than half an hour), the following hours will be blue.
I found it interesting (but would also understand if this sounds boring to some of you!), and couldn’t wait to see what other ‘revelations’ I could get in the next 2-3 months of keeping my time-tracker journal. For me, the journal also serves as an activity tracker, a mood tracker, a productivity tracker, and a tiny summary of my days.
Are you thinking of starting a time-tracker journal of your own? Why do you think you would need one? What are the things you want to track? How do you think you can get to know yourself better if you can track the way you spend your time every day? I would love to hear from you!
hanny
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Hi. I'm HANNY
I am an Indonesian writer/artist/illustrator and stationery web shop owner (Cafe Analog) based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I love facilitating writing/creative workshops and retreats, especially when they are tied to self-exploration and self-expression. In Indonesian, 'beradadisini' means being here. So, here I am, documenting life—one word at a time.
