Developing Myself

Yes, I’m back. Hopefully, for good. I’ve been mostly focused on another subject recently, but it’s time to restart my self-improvement… as there’s currently a lot to improve, and life hasn’t been good. But it’s important to keep a positive attitude, and, most importantly, a sense of humor, right?

So, for the past couple of days, I’ve been thinking about a way to not only start developing and improving myself again, but also to “liven up” this blog. The first problem was the hardest: I tend to be very lazy, and it’s hard for me to keep doing something for a very long while without getting bored, so quicker results and variety are a must. Also, tackling a lot of areas at once, coming from a long period of doing nothing about them, doesn’t usually work. “Baby steps” are often a better way.

The plan I came up with is this: each week I will introduce a change (for the better, of course) in my life. Sticking with something for just a week is easy. The trick is that in the following week, when I introduce another change (probably in a completely different area), I will stick to the first change as well — though the new one will be the main focus of that week.

Changes I’ve already thought about, in no particular order:

• Don’t drink alcohol except on social occasions (and no, dining at my family’s doesn’t count as one here)
• Meet at least one new person
• Go vegan for a day or two each week
• Fast for a day or two each week
• Exercise at least 5-10 minutes each day
• Read a book not from my usual genres (a week should be more than enough)
• Look at everyone in the eyes when talking (harder for me than it sounds)
• Make sure my home ends up tidier and cleaner after each day of the week (much saner than spending an entire day or two doing nothing but that)
• Go to some new place and explore it a bit (difficult at the moment due to lack of money, but eventually possible)
• Do something each day to try to increase the money earned from my sites
• Find (and put in practice) a new way of spending less money, either for the week or for the entire month
• Do some kind of “good deed” each day, however minor — not to gain something from it (and certainly not for supernatural reasons, as I’m 100% atheist), but simply to make the world a (slightly) better place
• Seek out friends and family (perhaps a different one each day) without any ulterior reasons (note that I consider “enjoying their company” an ulterior reason, which doesn’t mean it’s a bad one)
• and more…

Again, these are just ideas I’m throwing around; don’t think of the above as some kind of “checklist”. I may use some of them, not use others, and add new ones.

I’m also going to avoid being too “rigid”; I’ll stick to the first week of every change no matter what, but if it proves too difficult afterwards, I may put that particular change on hold after that week, though with the intention of trying again later. Still, this should be the exception, not the rule.

Post about the first weekly change (which has already started, this monday) coming next…

As you may have noticed, I have (until yesterday) been absent from this blog for several months. The reason is, unfortunately, a common one in my life: laziness. Several other things have also changed in my life, such as having a girlfriend (since May), but that was not the reason. It’s always the same: laziness, and inertia.

Anyone who’s ever tried a diet or an exercise regimen, unless possessing superhuman willpower, certainly knows what it’s like. Everything is going well, then you skip a day (of dieting, of exercising, of sticking to some other decision). You feel ashamed and guilty, so the next day you’re back in force. But the next time you skip a day, you don’t feel so guilty. It becomes more and more acceptable, more common. And soon your self-improvement is a thing of the past.

A couple of days ago, however, I was thinking about life in general, and after a while I remembered not only what I did during the beginning of this blog, but how I felt then. And the latter is the most important part here: I felt great. Not only was I more active and “awake”, both physically and mentally, but I also, for the first time in a very long time, felt really proud of myself, felt I was doing something about my life, for a change.

It was a great feeling. And I want it back.

I’ve already implemented a few changes today, and tomorrow I’ll write about them here. I’m still at the very beginning, so I don’t really feel “different”… except for one thing. I’m doing something.

And that’s always better than not doing anything.

‘Nuff said.

And no, I’ve not either completed, or given up on, my personal development.

I’m going on holidays for the next two weeks, and when I get back I’ll “get serious” again. Both in terms of development, and in terms of writing here.

But now, it’s the mountains for me, for a while.

Yes, I’ve been extremely lazy (and a bit busy) for the past two weeks or so. But no, I haven’t given up, much the opposite.

As of right now, I’m recovering from a flu I got from my father, when I visited his place last Tuesday. Apparently, they’re all recovering from it over there, too, so it wasn’t just me. Yesterday I slept about 3 hours in the afternoon (I had to leave work at about lunchtime), and 9 more hours at night, which is a lot for me; even before I got visibly sick (which was yesterday), I had been suffering from drowsiness for the last few days. Now I feel better, but I think it’s the medicine doing it; after all, a flu isn’t cured in a day.

I’ve been mostly fasting for two days each week (the trial is until the end of the month, after all), and it isn’t that hard. My weight seems to have stabilized at around 80 kg, but, then again, I haven’t exercised for the last two weeks. I’ll begin again next Monday, as long as the flu is really cured that day.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about writing a different kind of articles on this blog (in addition to the normal ones, not as a replacement), because I love to think and to write about what I think. The themes will, of course, be related to this blog’s usual ones (self-improvement, personality, human relationships, and so on). I hope to write the first one later today.

And so the time comes. Tomorrow, that is. I have to admit that I took longer than I intended to write the final parts of the “my baseline” series, because ending it would mean that the real work would begin. But now I have no more excuses. I’m beginning tomorrow instead of today for a couple of reasons, one of them being that I still have some unhealthy food leftovers in the fridge (which I must not throw away, as another of my problems is money), and for other feeble, pathetic excuses I don’t remember right now.

I haven’t publicized this blog yet, except to a couple of friends, whom I’ve also asked not to spread it around for now. I want to have at least one daily progress post before I “announce” it, and I still intend to write another one first, about my goals and intentions for the next period of time. I’m thinking about using weekly periods for now, since my self-discipline is not that great, but with practice I intend to go to two weeks, and then to full months.

I really hope this blog helps anyone besides myself. I think it can… but, like anything really worth doing, it’s something new, which means it’ll be an experiment. And experiments can succeed or fail. We’ll see.

If you’re reading this (which will become more and more unlikely as this blog grows, as this post will be buried deep inside), welcome to Developing Myself, a personal development blog with a twist: as the title suggest, instead of simply giving “sage advice” to readers, I will be developing myself, improving myself and my life, and posting my attempts and their results here. (How do I need to improve my life and myself? That’s for the next posts.)

If you haven’t done so yet, please take a look at the blog’s static pages: about “Developing Myself”, about me, and the comment policy. If the blog becomes really successful, the latter may one day become obsolete, as no one can handle having to moderate and reply to comments as a full time job. So take advantage of that feature while it lasts.