"I wished I could spend the entire weekend rolling around in bed."
For the past one year, I realised I had been wasting my weekends away doing nothing productive. For the life of me, I usually could not recall how the hours just rolled by and by Sunday night, it was the miserable feeling all over again like I had achieved nothing and had nothing to look forward to, except yet another dreadful Monday.
I recently purchased a book called "What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend" by Laura Vanderkam.
The book basically reiterated what I already knew but never bothered to put into practise: If you want your weekends to count, you need to put in the effort to make it count. Most people think that the best way to spend the weekend is to do nothing, but how many of us have experienced "doing nothing" and by Sunday night we don't feel any more rested that we felt on Friday night?
The trick, it seems, is to plan your weekend ahead. Plan a schedule, and stick to it.
I used to say "When the weekend arrives, I am not going to snooze and sleep in. I am gonna wake up early, clean my room, exercise, cook myself a good meal and finish that book I've been wanting to read". What actually happens when the weekend comes around is that I usually having none of those planned things done, and I end up alternating between being stuck on Facebook and napping, and then watching meaningless TV shows all day with pizza delivery.
In recent weeks, I have tried to be more disciplined and I think this weekend has been pretty productive so far: I went to church, went swimming at the public pool, cleaned my room, and the groceries are waiting to be cooked into a delicious meal of salmon soup pasta.
It is not easy making plans to "do nothing", and it may take some discipline sticking to it, but trust me, you'll feel much happier if you do.
"I wished I could quit my job and laze around for the rest of my life."
Really? Would we really be happy and content lazing around doing nothing all day, while everyone else around us are progressing with their lives, achieving bigger things each day while we bum around having nothing to account for?
Take for instance, the rich socialites who got to where they were by stroke of luck (rich ex-husbands paying obscenely fat alimony checks, marrying into a rich family and never having to work for money ever again, etc). We see them on instagram all the time, bragging about their most recent luxury shopping loot, their getaways, and their lavish lifestyle. We follow them and every time they update, we think to ourselves, "I wished I was born as lucky as her."
Do you, really?
Do you really wish to be someone who got rich by not lifting a finger, whose only sole purpose of life is to live an unrealistic lavish lifestyle without previously working hard for it? If your answer to that is "yes", I'd say you're a fucking retard who has no idea what it is to live a meaningful, fulfilling, and happy life.
Why would I want to be so shallow as to waste my time following them and wishing I were them, when I am already happy with who I am?
To those who wished you could be rich and successful and happy, I say to you, you can. The journey may not be a happy one, but by putting in efforts, you can be happy with yourself for what you have achieved.
"I wished I could play the piano / paint really well / be able to speak Japanese."
if you want to be good at something, you have to work hard at it. The process of working at it may not seem like a pleasant one, but the results are satisfying. Take for instance, playing the piano. Gruelling hours of practising at the piano may seem utterly boring and meaningless, but "if only I could play the piano, I would be so happy", that is exactly what you have to do.
I, for one, enjoy blogging and writing. I gain an immense sense of self-satisfaction, being able to pen down my thoughts coherently and publishing it for everyone else to read. I used to pride myself in possessing a flair for writing, but in recent years, my writing had slowed to a halt. The process of writing somehow started to feel tedious (especially when I have writer's block) and sometimes I'd rather be spending the time scrolling endlessly on Facebook to kill time.
I allowed myself to be undisciplined and I ended up not writing for over a year. Was I happier spending the time on Facebook and not having to actively use my intellect in writing? I was not.
I also realised, to be able to pick up the habit of writing again, I had to sit myself down and give myself a rule: Write at least once a week, over the weekend. "No time"? Make time.
Happiness Doesn't Always Make You Feel Happy
So, there you go. Happiness doesn't always make you feel happy, but with a little bit of effort and discipline, we all can make our lives happier and more meaningful.
Cheers, and have a good Sunday evening ahead. =)
For the past one year, I realised I had been wasting my weekends away doing nothing productive. For the life of me, I usually could not recall how the hours just rolled by and by Sunday night, it was the miserable feeling all over again like I had achieved nothing and had nothing to look forward to, except yet another dreadful Monday.
I recently purchased a book called "What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend" by Laura Vanderkam.
The book basically reiterated what I already knew but never bothered to put into practise: If you want your weekends to count, you need to put in the effort to make it count. Most people think that the best way to spend the weekend is to do nothing, but how many of us have experienced "doing nothing" and by Sunday night we don't feel any more rested that we felt on Friday night?
The trick, it seems, is to plan your weekend ahead. Plan a schedule, and stick to it.
I used to say "When the weekend arrives, I am not going to snooze and sleep in. I am gonna wake up early, clean my room, exercise, cook myself a good meal and finish that book I've been wanting to read". What actually happens when the weekend comes around is that I usually having none of those planned things done, and I end up alternating between being stuck on Facebook and napping, and then watching meaningless TV shows all day with pizza delivery.
In recent weeks, I have tried to be more disciplined and I think this weekend has been pretty productive so far: I went to church, went swimming at the public pool, cleaned my room, and the groceries are waiting to be cooked into a delicious meal of salmon soup pasta.
It is not easy making plans to "do nothing", and it may take some discipline sticking to it, but trust me, you'll feel much happier if you do.
"I wished I could quit my job and laze around for the rest of my life."
Really? Would we really be happy and content lazing around doing nothing all day, while everyone else around us are progressing with their lives, achieving bigger things each day while we bum around having nothing to account for?
Take for instance, the rich socialites who got to where they were by stroke of luck (rich ex-husbands paying obscenely fat alimony checks, marrying into a rich family and never having to work for money ever again, etc). We see them on instagram all the time, bragging about their most recent luxury shopping loot, their getaways, and their lavish lifestyle. We follow them and every time they update, we think to ourselves, "I wished I was born as lucky as her."
Do you, really?
Do you really wish to be someone who got rich by not lifting a finger, whose only sole purpose of life is to live an unrealistic lavish lifestyle without previously working hard for it? If your answer to that is "yes", I'd say you're a fucking retard who has no idea what it is to live a meaningful, fulfilling, and happy life.
Why would I want to be so shallow as to waste my time following them and wishing I were them, when I am already happy with who I am?
To those who wished you could be rich and successful and happy, I say to you, you can. The journey may not be a happy one, but by putting in efforts, you can be happy with yourself for what you have achieved.
"I wished I could play the piano / paint really well / be able to speak Japanese."
if you want to be good at something, you have to work hard at it. The process of working at it may not seem like a pleasant one, but the results are satisfying. Take for instance, playing the piano. Gruelling hours of practising at the piano may seem utterly boring and meaningless, but "if only I could play the piano, I would be so happy", that is exactly what you have to do.
I, for one, enjoy blogging and writing. I gain an immense sense of self-satisfaction, being able to pen down my thoughts coherently and publishing it for everyone else to read. I used to pride myself in possessing a flair for writing, but in recent years, my writing had slowed to a halt. The process of writing somehow started to feel tedious (especially when I have writer's block) and sometimes I'd rather be spending the time scrolling endlessly on Facebook to kill time.
I allowed myself to be undisciplined and I ended up not writing for over a year. Was I happier spending the time on Facebook and not having to actively use my intellect in writing? I was not.
I also realised, to be able to pick up the habit of writing again, I had to sit myself down and give myself a rule: Write at least once a week, over the weekend. "No time"? Make time.
Happiness Doesn't Always Make You Feel Happy
So, there you go. Happiness doesn't always make you feel happy, but with a little bit of effort and discipline, we all can make our lives happier and more meaningful.
Cheers, and have a good Sunday evening ahead. =)
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