February 2023 Recap
My health anxiety is real this month. In March, I will undergo a series of tests again as I celebrate the first anniversary of my surgery. When you have health anxiety, even a slight discomfort can mess up your whole system.
But February was still a nice month for me. It overpowered my fear, thanks to the energy of the people, books, movies, and places I absorbed this month.
Like last month’s recap, here are my seven non-negotiables for February:
Exercise. As of today, I am proud of myself for losing 4kg since I started counting my calories last January 4th. It was a slow loss of weight, but I am loving the light feeling of it as well as the aesthetics. In a few days, I will start my bulk. Exercise has been an integral part of my days. In fact, on rest days, although essential, I feel like I am losing track. I am still consistent with my walks, too. Overall, it was an excellent month for this non-negotiable.
Read: Part of the book I read last month by Jim Kwik tackled the topic of speed reading. This is a new skill I am trying to learn. But to nurture this skill, I need to read. Reading out loud is a no-no in speed reading. According to Kwik, reading silently and using your finger to track the text aid in speed reading. It works for me. This month, I was able to read three non-fiction books. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish Murakami’s book. Regardless, it’s still a record-breaking achievement. (See annex for the books I read).
Create. I am not sure if I will consider this as part of my “creative output” this month, but I was invited to talk at our local church during the Young Adults’ Sunday. At first, I was not that confident to do the talk because they hardly see me at church nowadays, and I have deviated from a lot of Christian teachings in the past years of my life. But I made peace with it and drafted a general topic that also celebrated Christian values. The talk allowed me to practice public speaking and to draft a straightforward yet impactful speech.
Deep Work. I made a new habit this year, and that’s going to work early. I have sacrificed a few morning routines for this. In fact, I have accepted that I won’t get that perfect morning routine I often see on Medium, Youtube, and other influencers. If only I were that privileged to wake up at 5 am and still get enough sleep (more on this later). Arriving at work earlier than the rest of the people allows me to plan my day peacefully and quietly. With that, I have a couple of creative outputs at work, including two podcast episodes and finishing the February Newsletter. Overall, the effort I put in did not go in vain this month.
Meditation. I did a few meditations this month, mostly led by Doc Joe Dispenza, focusing on manifestation. The concept of manifestation was quite unclear to me before. But after a few experimentations, I was able to understand it. To manifest, you have to experience as if the thing you are manifesting is already happening. On the other hand, when manifesting, you should not get attached to the output. In March, I want to focus more on spirituality and, to be honest, new agey stuff. For some reason, I am constantly attracted to anything spiritual.
Declutter. Even though it is heartbreaking, I have to put my cats in one room. Since I do not have the emotional capacity to give them away for adoption, I just allotted a good space for them in our house. They’re quite sad, and they will show it to you that they are sad. But the house needs to be tidy now. This is a major accomplishment for me under this non-negotiable.
Pause. This non-negotiable this February suddenly became a privilege. Unfortunately, I find it difficult to take a pause throughout the month aside from sleep. I am thinking of changing this non-negotiable into a different non-negotiable. Pause is essential, but this month it did not resonate with me.
ANNEX
Books
1. “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker. Another habit formed this month is to sleep 7–8 hours a day, thanks to this book. The book talks about the science behind sleeping and dreaming. The author encourages you to fall asleep while reading the book. Here are things I learned:
a. We have NREM and REM sleep, and this happens in cycles throughout the night. Both are healthy forms of sleep.
b. Naturally, we humans should sleep twice a day. One in the evening and one in the afternoon. But the society we formed would not permit it. There’s true wisdom when our parents would “force” us to take a nap in the afternoon.
2. “Talk Like Ted” by Carmine Gallo. I started reading this in preparation for my talk I mentioned earlier. This is a good guide for public speaking, and it helped me draft my speech too. One of the main points I learned from this book is to use stories to make powerful points. This is what I did during my talk. I told stories of people. I told stories about my friends and their struggles.
3. “Ego Is the Enemy” by Ryan Holiday. This is a very, very painful book to read, especially for a person like me who is in constant battle with ego every day (aren’t we all?). It is painful because there is no choice but to self-reflect every after chapter. Holiday shares stories of historical figures who won the fight against their egos as well as figures who were devoured by their egos.
SERIES. I focused on Manga, Anime, Manga-inspired, and game-inspired series this month. Thank you Netflix and HBO.
- “Records of Ragnarok”. This 2-season anime on Netflix is relaxing to watch, at least for me. It is a battle between the gods and mankind. The battle started when the gods decided to destroy mankind. But the Valkyries made an appeal to save humans by having a battle between gods and mankind. The best battle so far is between Zeus and Adam.
2. “Alice in Borderland”. I am obsessed. I am also a late bloomer. I love series like these. The story is about Arisu who got stuck in a mystery game. The games are deadly. They have to surpass the games to survive. This is way better than Squid Games. I am planning to rewatch the series again. This series inspired me to officially gamify my life.
3. “Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre”. I will always be a fan of Junji Ito’s works. I have read a few Manga when I was younger and I literally get nightmares about the graphic comics. On the other hand, I am a bit torn if I like the anime version or not. I guess the Manga is way better than Netflix’s interpretation. Still, a good series to watch if you want to have that sort of “good dark” feeling.
APPS
- Habitica. I downloaded this task management app when I decided to gamify my life. The interface is like as if you are in a Pokemon game. You have to complete tasks, habits and challenges to receive coins. Coins can be convertible into equipment as well as an excuse to treat yourself for a cup of coffee. The goal is also to level up your avatar/character. It is a cool app. And it is free!
- Duolingo. This is not a new app but I downloaded it since I started to study Bahasa Indonesia this month. I have learned a few words because of this app.
Terima Kesih!
