Dates covered: June 6th to June 12th, 2021.
Keywords: Rituals, Work/Life balance & Guatapé
“ It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” David Attenborough
It’s raining cats and dogs as I write this (fun fact, no one really knows where this phrase comes from!). The thunderstorms are a sight to witness in Medellín. Brb, gonna make a hot chocolate*. Cue La mer on Spotify.
* I love slow-made hot chocolate with pure cacao. The whole thing is quite a ritual and has an exquisite velvety mouthfeel when made correctly.
The importance of Rituals
Rituals are important for me. When your surroundings are unfamiliar, rituals offer comfort and peace of mind that even when change is inevitable, you have the choice to do certain things, your way. Whether it’s daily rituals like making your morning beverage or rituals driven by an event, they provide a sense of predictability and belonging.
My husband and I have a compulsory ritual when we arrive at a new destination. 2 packs of instant ramen will mark our first meal. As silly and trivial as this sounds, our ‘instant’ chicken-soup-for-the-soul moment, more so than just filling our tummies, helps us settle down and settle into a sense of familiarity. The ramen is a big friendly hug after a long journey.
I also like to consider my morning routine a ritual. The hours I set aside for myself in the morning are so precious to me. Most days, I’m awake between 4:30 am — 6 am, which buys me a chunk of time to do as I please.
My morning routine usually consists of:
- a 6 min stretch
- light calisthenic exercises
- dancing
- making a tea
- reading a book/blogging/editing a video
- organizing my workday with Notion
- 10 min daily meditation with Calm
A relatively new ritual for me, that I added to my morning routine during the pandemic is the calisthenic exercises. Not sure about you, but I developed chronic neck and shoulder pains working from home. There are so many factors that may cause neck pain, from the height of your screen to the height of your table or even your chair. As I travel nomadically, these are things I can’t control. Airbnb photos and descriptions only tell you so much about how ergonomic those chairs really are.
So my PT encouraged me to build muscle strength by doing calisthenics exercises, such as extended planks. After 1 month of daily exercises, coupled with reminders to get up every hour to do a little walk/stretch/fill my water glass, my pain lessened and I can’t remember the last time I went to bed with a sore neck.
Achieving work/life balance
Similar to how these exercises are preventative for pain, I’m also being more intentional to prevent work burn-out. Particularly when you work for a startup, and the team’s timezones blur, work tasks can spread like wildfire. I mentioned earlier that I use Notion to organize my workday, but beyond that, I also have my personal dashboard that I use alongside my calendar to plan how I divide the hours in my day. I also find that setting an alarm clock to remind you to ‘stop’ working is helpful. All of these time-organizational tools and tips will help shape the boundaries that are necessary to achieve a better work/life balance.
My husband and I also plan at least 2 non-negotiables during the week, one of them being date night and the other some kind of new adventure together. During week 2 as digital nomads in Medellín, we found some hidden gems to enjoy a few cocktails at and climbed the El Peñol rock in Guatapé for some incredible views.
A quote to sum up this blog entry
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.“ — Charles Darwin
and a cool photo from week 2
