Daily & Weekly Routines for 2023

"Resolutions, schmesolutions" has been my attitude throughout most of life. (As with my refusal to study for exams or put effort into relationships, it's really 50% expectation of failure and 50% short attention span.)

But in 2023, I do have a goal: to take better care of myself. Luckily I am built quite simply. My flourishing requires only a handful of basic inputs: food, water, sunshine, movement, writing, alone time, reading, sleep. All these are daily and weekly actions, which can easily be consolidated into a school-style timetable:

I should provide a few explanatory notes about our lifestyle. Jon and I don't work full-time. I have a part-time job at the bookstore, where I work 4 days a week, in shifts of 4 hours. Jon does food delivery in the evenings. To supplement our income, there's freelance writing and rabbit boarding.

After a year+ of not having a proper job, one of my biggest struggles has been time management. A job is actually very useful in providing some fixed points of reference in one's schedule. Having 4 nights a week taken up by work, for example, forces me to plan my free time in the day so that I don't squander it by sweeping the floor endlessly.

We have decided to introduce more of such fixed points in our daily schedules. They are:

• Breakfast: Although a very un-trendy old person thing to do, Jon and I have started eating breakfast again (on his doctor's orders). We usually do toast, eggs. coffee, OJ, maybe fruit or yogurt. It's surprisingly nice to sit down to breakfast every day.

• Write: The best time of the day to write is after breakfast, when both internal (stomach) and external (pets) clamour has died down. I find I need a proper place to write and can't make do with just the sofa or whatever. So I have created a study room/library out of one of our spare rooms, and I lock myself in there until it's time for lunch.

• Lunch: I resolve to treat lunch with the respect it deserves. No more skipping lunch or eating cheap garbage. During my lunch hour, I will either cook a simple but nice meal or go out and eat something reliable (that's my daily allotment of sunshine & movement too).

• Read: Last year, my reading was all willy-nilly, so in 2023 I pledge to read intentionally rather than compulsively. I have even made a Reading List! As far as reading goes, one of the major blockers is the lack of a proper, distraction-free zone to do it in at home. We have therefore put up fences to keep the pets out of our spare rooms and furnished them with reading couches.

• Relax: After 4 hours of climbing up and down shelving books on work nights, I find myself very willing to relax when I get home. It's nice to build time into my schedule to just sit down and enjoy being home.

• Yoga: Yoga twice a week: Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Since I have 3 days a week where I don't have work, I decided to assign a specific purpose to each one.

• Fun Day: I mostly failed to do Artist Dates throughout the 12-week Artist's Way exercise. Why is it so hard for me to take a few hours out for myself? I think it's just bad planning. I ignore the imperative until Friday rolls around and I realise it's "too late". I want to do this better. In my weekly timetable I've reserved 1 day per week to take myself out, meet friends, and just do things purely for the sake of fun.

• Housework Day: Just as there are new habits to cultivate, I also have existing habits that I want to break. I spend way too much time doing household chores, grocery shopping, and cooking. It's a Parkinson's Law thing. What you spend your time on eventually, defines who you are, and I absolutely reject the idea of becoming some kind of housewife. So I intend to do all the domestic duties one day per week only.

• Free Day: I am keeping the remaining day free for any freelance writing, special projects, playing badminton, going to the beach, and/or any other things that come up.

Happy new year.