I just recently cleared my place of much bullcrap and have consequently been able to keep cleaning up after myself moment to moment so it doesnt build up and its basically alwaya clean 🤩
I take a break from caffeine for a week every two months. I do the same with alcohol every month. It helps me stay objective about the amount I’m consuming. It helped me cut way back from pandemic-levels of coffee especially. Hoo, boy, I was one jittery, confined ball of anxiety and despair.
Pro tip: don’t schedule both during the same week.
Me and my wife have started doing Dry January. There was a study about how it led to drinking less year over year. I like it!
I’ve read similar. A full, continuous month would probably be more effective than my week-long dry spells, but I have alcohol-related hobbies (brewing, distilling, other fermentations) that I don’t want to shelve for that long. So more frequent week-long spells are for me.
Happy journey with your spouse, I hope it’s a positive for you!
Honestly the first couple times I would make exceptions for birthdays and whatnot but it’s gotten easier. Also in your case it seems like tasting booze for hobby purposes is different than having a drink… anyway good luck to you too!
like tasting booze for hobby purposes is different than having a drink…
Weeeeell, it’s a better excuse, innit?
- I used to brew beer as well and going completely dry when there’s delicious homebrews in the fridge isn’t as easy as when there are none.
I took an involuntary tolerance break from cannabis for 4 days, and it reduced my daily intake by 90%
FYI caffeine and alcohol don’t actually build tolerance unless you really drink a lot.
It’s not about tolerance, it’s about monitoring how much I’m consuming so I don’t overdo it.
I am, in a non-self deluded (I hope) way, a “social drinker”. I don’t keep any alcohol at home. I only drink around friends, and I keep company that does more things than just go to bars. This makes alcohol actually seem like more of an upbeat treat than something habitually consumed.
Having a place for things. Never having to look for “x”. Keys, wallet, which type of utensil goes in which slot in the silverware holder. I have saved so much time, avoided problems and given myself mental breaks by simply putting things where they’re needed and being consistent.
So much of modern life is about about inventory management.
I like old videos of tribespeople in tropical places. There’s always a guy just lying down in the jungle, doing nothing, with no stuff.
I second this.
It’s great having specific spots for things. I also have a specific bag for when I go to the gym with its own set of earbuds and other gym ephemera.
I’m trying to extend/apply this in a way that if I need to put down something, I think ahead of set places in the house where I put things. That way of I’ve left something somewhere, it’ll always be in one particular place in a room. That way I don’t have to look everywhere for a thing I just put down in order to do something. I only need to look at one or two spots in each room.
Drink a glass of water upon waking up.
Twenty years ago someone mentioned this to me, how the body tends to be dehydrated upon waking and that’s part of why waking up sucks.
Since then I’ve been drinking a glass of water almost immediately after waking up.
+1 to this and taking it up a notch: as I grow older have to pee once at night and I get that glass of water in before returning to sleep.
Hacks 👴👌
I used to lose my keys until I decided to stop losing my keys because they always go “right here.”
“Don’t put it down, put it away” is a mentality I came across recently and am trying to incorporate into my life, because putting something down means it’s gone forever according to my brain.
That’s a nice phrase. For me, when I’m done with something, very often the place it goes is wherever I am right now. Counter, desk, table, top of the dresser. They all work and then things pile up.
Never use your phone in bed.
CBT (Cognitive behavior therapy). Get your your mind to associate bed with sleep, not with phone stimulation.
Good one.
I actually bought an alarm clock so I could turn my phone off at night, and now, I want to get a step counter so I can keep my phone off when I’m not using it period.
Good one.
I touch the bed, I sleep. My wife often pauses her Netflix to cuss at me for that, but i usually don’t notice anything.
I like this one. Followed it last night.
When I feel bad, I clean. If I’m going to feel like crap anyway, might as well get some use out of it.
Putting stuff in a calendar. Now that I’ve started doing it, I’m not sure how people live without it. I have too much stuff going on to remember exactly when things are happening and some of them are scheduled weeks or months in advance. Everything has to go in the calendar app. For things that are further out, I set reminders one week and one day before. Other than that, I also check at the start of every week, and ofc I check whenever I need to schedule something.
This and the to-do list. My wife and I are totally committed to these. It really does make life a little bit easier.
Agree completely! I don’t know how people remember random Wednesday night plans without putting it on a calendar.
Plans just go in one ear and out the other unless I write them down immediately
Flossing I guess.
this is an important one. i nearly died when a tooth bacterial infection spread up my trigeminal nerve. not to mention the pain.
Water flossing! It’s like a bidet for your teeth.
bidet for your teeth
I thought the instructions were clear, but here I kneel in the bathroom with a wet face, soaked shirt, and still a popcorn kernel stuck between my molars.
I had one but the hose broke, so now it dispenses milk for the cat through the fridge door when we’re away.
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Journaling.
It’s extremely powerful from mental health to actual planning tasks and keeping track of things but weirdly enough it can be difficult to get into.My best advice would be to make it as easy and as low stakes as possible at the beginning. Just open file/journal and write anything every day, even if it’s one word. Don’t worry about anything else. Then you can add and evolve this habbit to whatever feels useful to you.
Walking places instead of driving.
I do this for anything nearby (including work) but oh my God it’s so hot right now. And also the rainy season.
Want an electric bike by the time the rains end but have saved only 1/10 of the price so far they are so expensive.
What about umbrellas?
I have one but when I say rain, I don’t mean a light rain shower, there is a lot of lightning and wind. No big deal, mornings are usually clear, I walk in then if needed get a ride home. (E-bike won’t help in those situations at all) But I agree with you, moving at a human pace is a good habit, it feels good and is good for you, improves sleep too. I just am irritated arriving at work sweaty.
Or cycling!
Meditating
Each day, I have a reminder shoot off on all my devices to think of three things for which I’m grateful. Today’s list:
-1. I get to wfh today (we’re hybrid)
-2. I don’t look like Andrew Tate (pic of him in last post where I commented; what a toad)
-3. The vase didn’t shatter when a kitty knocked it off the table eating flowers
(Lemmy wanted to be stupid about how it formatted my numbered list, that’s why the hyphens to stop it from mangling the list.)
The cat will try again, as it wants on its list “broke the fancy vase”. It’s always on the list for cats, they just keep trying to check it off!
Do, or do not. There is no “try.” The kitties will eat those flowers.
I do squats when I craft video game items. One squat per item. Thousands of squats at this point but still playing just as much so win win in my book. My ass is getting bigger!
Factorio players Start sweating.
If I’d done this while playing Stardew, my legs would be tree trunks by now
Isn’t it nice knowing you can crack nuts with your ass? Gives power bottom a whole new meaning
I’m gonna join your Minecraft world and set up an auto crafter that crafts from an auto farm
Paying attention to what you’re doing. Sounds simple but so many people don’t do it. They just keep doing the same thing and act surprised when it never works. If you pay attention to what you do and the outcome of your actions, you can improve everything you do and become very efficient.
I think this is related to meditation too. I always find it makes life feel more spacious and calm when I do it.
I have a hat.
The hat goes on when I leave the house or leave the office. Putting the hat on triggers me to stop for one second and actually think “Do I have everything I should have?” If I make it out of the house without the hat, I spend a proper minute or two double checking that I have everything because if I can forget the hat, I could forget anything.
It’s yer thinkin’ cap!
Before I sit down on the toilet, I take a piece of toilet paper en wipe the brim. Not that it makes that much of a difference of how clean the brim is. But since doing that I ALWAYS notice if the roll’s nearly empty. It’s just the heads up you need to check stock and fix a new one before it’s too late.
