This weekend, I caught up with an old friend who told me I needed to slow down.
"You haven't changed since high school; every movement you make is still at lightning speed," he said as he whipped his arm across the table, almost knocking over a glass of water. "Have you ever tried just, doing nothing?" "Nope," I replied. "I would simply go crazy." He told me he would kidnap me one day, drop me off at Vasona Park without my phone and make me sit in nature for an afternoon. He said I would enjoy it. I disagreed, but it made me think about how fast paced my life is. My friends/coworkers/family often tell me that I need to relax. Take a moment and enjoy life. And while I personally never feel like I'm rushing, I began to see why people think I'm racing through life: graduating in 3 years, taking on another job when my first one started to bore me, waking up at absurd hours.... even binging Netflix shows. Today, (Monday), is usually my chill day, and the perfect day to try and do (almost) nothing. I don't tutor, I have shorter hours at work, and my parents are usually both home for dinner. Last night, I told myself I would take it easy today... sleep in, read a book, go shopping at the outlet maybe. That didn't happen. For starters, I got up 1 hour earlier than planned. Instead of lying in bed on Instagram, I called my research mentor in New York and asked to push our conference call up to 6:30 am. After a good phone call, I made edits to our paper and sent it back to her for publication. Feeling productive and alive already. It was now 8:15 am. Perfect timing for a quick workout. I completed BBG arms and abs week 2, took a 5 minute shower and looked at the time. I still had two hours before my first patient arrived in Gilroy. What to do? I caught glimpse of my volunteer badge and decided to go visit my patient in the facilitated care center -- it was on the way to Gilroy anyway! After a particularly fun visit, (Mr. Y told me I had a "nice shape and an even nicer smile",) I made my way to the Gilroy clinic. This was the first day I was running a technician clinic on my own, so I was particularly nervous and got there an hour early. As soon as I finished setting up, my afternoon patient miraculously arrived 3 hours early! How perfect, I thought. I won't have to stay in this crummy office until 3. We had a fantastic conversation about high school proms (she is the ASB secretary of a local high school), as I stuck electrodes on her scalp to measure her optic nerve function. My second patient arrived a couple minutes later, and I had a good time practicing my minimal Spanish with her (I realized how out of practice I am, I could hardly understand the alphabet and I checked her vision!) But I had a great time using hand gestures and many "muy biens" attempting to communicate with her. Since I finished clinic 3 hours before I thought I would, I decided to go get a haircut. Feeling particularly risky, I decided I would try a one-dollar-sign salon I've never been to before and tell them to "cut it how you think it would look best for my face." 20 minutes and $25 later, I was feeling brand new. As I attempted to take post-haircut selfies in my car, I realized how completely disgusting it was. It was time to treat my car to a deep clean car wash, I thought. I found some coupons sold by SHS Football and headed to Classic Car Wash. When I arrived, they told me it would take 20 minutes. "20 minutes?!" I thought, "For such a productive day, I could not waste even 10 minutes of time." I walked to Sprouts and picked up short rib to cook for dinner. This takes us to right now, as I rapidly type up this spontaneous blog post waiting for my short ribs to marinate. This has been the best day of 2019 so far. It has also been one of the busiest, most productive, and happiest days. As these events unfurled today, I realized that it's not in my blood to lie in bed and relax. I love thinking and moving and being helpful and making changes. I love filling in every minute of my time, finding good deals and discovering new songs on the radio. Tonight, I know my day will be rounded out with the good company of my friend and family. I will do some of my favorite things: cook dinner for the people I love, watch the Warriors game, and bake something chocolatey. I failed to relax today, but I succeeded in learning something about myself: happiness increases productivity, and productivity increases happiness!
0 Comments
I got tired of watching Netflix tonight, and decided to create a little game... Make your best guess ;)"
|