What small, everyday life tips do you have to offer?
I’ll go first. After your turn the water off in the shower but before you get out, use your hands to wipe off any standing water on your body. Maybe even give your legs a bit of a shake. This way, you won’t drip nearly as much when you get out, keeping the floor and your towel drier.
If you see a problem you can fix, it's best to fix it right away because very often it can become way worse if you leave it for later, costing more time, effort, and money to fix than if you just took care of it immediately. Everytime that little voice says "you can fix that later" you tell it to stfu.
Try to eat healthy and perform a minimal workout every day. Eat more fresh fruits or vegetables. It's quick to make a simple yogurt bowl with fruit and granola, or a salad with lean meat or chick peas. Start with a few push ups, crunches, reverse crunches, and at least a 30 minute walk. Small changes gradually will help you feel better with how you look and feel with a small time investment.
If a child gives you anything, anything at all, blade of grass, shell at the seaside, whatever - take it with real, heartfelt thanks. It is all they have to give.
Take a lunch break, both of those things, lunch and a break. Do anything other than work and sit down to eat something so you can enjoy it. Take a break in the middle of the day, you're worth it and you deserve it.
If anything out of the ordinary lasts more than 24 hours, get to a doctor!
Three days after Thanksgiving, 2018, I developed a really bad case of heartburn. "No big deal," I thought, "It WAS Thanksgiving and I DID have the extra plate of sweet potatoes..."
Super hard to sleep, couldn't get positioned right.
Monday, pepto did nothing.
Tuesday, same.
Wednesday, super nauseated, throwing up, called out sick from work.
Thursday, the heartburn moved into my upper arms, which I didn't know was a thing. Nausea was gone, but it was replaced by the feeling that there was a giant rock in the center of my chest, heavy, pulling down on all my insides.
Advice line sends me to the hospital, hospital runs a blood test and finds I've been having a heart attack.
Every time my heart beats, it only pumps out 30% of what it should, that heavy feeling was my heart getting heavier and heavier every heartbeat.
Doc says 30% is the line between walking around, talking to people... and not.
Thursday - Sunday, Cardiac Ward.
Monday - Open heart surgery, ICU.
Tuesday-Thursday - Cardiac Ward. You'd think they'd let a dude rest after cracking you open like a lobster, fuck no! Get up and walk!
If you're ever randomly angry or sad for reasons that are out of your control and not the fault of anyone around you, make a small announcement. Something as simple as "I'm upset about X, sorry if it seems like I'm being short or snappy with anyone."
Hide an extra roll of toilet paper somewhere in the the bathroom, use for emergencies, tell no one. I smash one flat and put it up behind the false drawer covering the vanity sink.
Find a place where you live to have a "sit spot" every day. Ideally outside, but if weather doesn't cooperate, where you can see outside. You don't have to do or think anything, just sit (or stand) and enjoy the view. It doesn't need to be epic, just something you like looking at. (In one of my places, it was the way a particular building interrupted the horizon that I found interesting.) No phone, no computer, no book - just breathe and observe.
It doesn't need to be for long. Start with two to five minutes. I usually do longer when I can.
Yes, it's a type of meditation. But a type that works better for this neurospicy gal than sitting in utter stillness or listening to music.
Currently, it's the picnic table near my bird feeders first thing after waking for my spot. In the morning and evening they are most active, so I sit with a cuppa and enjoy watching them negotiate who eats first while I wake up and caffeinate. It soothes my nervous system in a way notifications and doomscrolling can't, and makes me better able to handle my day.
There is nuance to nearly everthing that exists. All of life happens with the grey area- perfectly balanced between the black and white boundaries most people refuse to look away from.
If you shower at the gym, you don't need a whole bath towel to dry yourself. A regular hand towel is sufficient, and it takes up way less room in your gym bag.
When i tell people i do yoga every day before work, they think its MUCH HARDER than it is. I get up, drink a whole glass of water, and sit on my mat. If its cold, i use a space heater. I put on an easy yoga video on YouTube (i love Yoga with Adrienne) and i only do the floor parts lol.
I am in such better shape, i have more energy, I've lost weight, my posture & balance are better, and i can self-regulate my emotions a thousand times easier. I am so, so much happier with this simple lil 20mins starting my day.
I'll take your advice one step further: after you've hand-squiggied yourself, do a quick towel dry in the shower. Dry your feet as you step out and you won't get any water on the floor
Some of us have a habit of listening to that nasty little voice in our heads that says we're a failure, that we're weak, that we have to work harder than anyone else to just be.
Next time you hear it starting to list all the 'bad/wrong' stuff you've done, tell it to shut up ... and keep telling it to shut up every time you realize you're listening to it. Then think on a good thing you did for a friend or neighbour.
Go to a hardware store, buy multiple packs of microfiber so you have multiple colors, assign a color to a specific task (blue = bathroom, grey = kitchen, orange = car detailing) and liberate yourselves from paper towels.
If you wash them in cool water with little detergent and some vinegar, dry on low without fabric softener, they'll remain absorbent and streak-free for a long ass time. As they go bad (burned from wiping down a hot oven top etc), cut them in half and use them for rags for 'greasy jobs' (you'll know which is which because they're cut in half)
Get a step counter and aim for 10,000 steps a day. First it makes you aware of how much (or little) you're moving each day - you have a real number you can see and a target to aim for. Second it sets you a reasonable goal to achieve every day no matter how you're feeling.
It's good for your mental health as well as physical health. There is good evidence that people who do the equivalent of 10,000 steps a day are generally healthier on many metrics, and the benefits plateau at around 10k. And on a bad day, going out for a walk to hit your 10k can make a huge difference to your mental health.
It's a simple, achievable but impactful lifestyle change that almosr anyone can make.
Edit: while you can get a step counter on your phone (including privacy apps like Pedometer on F-droid), I'd go for a dedicated clip on simple counter. There is something about a physical object dedicated to the task that makes a difference to me sticking to it. Also if you walk around without your phone a clip on device will keep on counting.
Use Voice Notify to read notifications if you drive a lot or work with your hands a lot. Also useful if you have notification addiction, by restricting what it can read.
Change your car's oil often.
Sennheiser noise canceling over the ear headphones are comfortable enough to sleep in even if you're a side sleeper. Combine with brown noise for a good night sleep if you have snoring people or animals.
If you have a tankless water heater, and have to run the tap for a really long while to get hot water, look into timed recirculating pumps. It'll save you a ton of money and make you kick yourself for not doing it sooner.
If you're not going to soak your dishes, at least splash some water on them and leave them upside down. The food bits won't harden as much and you won't have to scrub as hard.
Always keep stock of water in an extra overhead tank or atleast an extra lid bucket bathrooms for emergency when tap water ran out. Just make sure to change water every two weeks to prevent bug parties in it.
If you don't have kettle then have a lot of water bottles especially that can store warm drinking water for long time, to never run short of warm drinking water in winter.
If you work from home, make it a point to get up and get dressed for your shift. Dressing casual is fine. Consider putting on shoes or house shoes too. There's something about it that wakes you up and gets you in the right mind every day.
If you're having a hard time opening a jar or bottle, wrap a rubber band around the lid, then use that to grip and twist it. I don't know why it works so well but it does.
I wear button up shirts for work, and I only button and unbutton the second one down and pull the shirt on and off over my head (I never button the top button). By not buttoning and unbuttoning the other ones, it reduces the stress on the threads, and greatly reduces the chance that you will have a button pop off.
Sticking to the shower theme, if you're able and don't have really hard water, spray the walls of your shower before getting out. It'll get rid of the soap residue and keep it clean longer. Don't do this with hard water unless you feel like squeegeeing it off or you'll make it worse.
Take it easy for about half an hour or so after eating and then do some kind of physical activity. I learned that this has the best effect for lowering blood sugar in battling type 2 diabetes, but I think it's generally good advice for anyone? It doesn't have to be a heavy workout or anything. Even just getting up on your feet and walking around a bit makes a difference.
If you’re changing batteries on a device and get the used and new ones mixed up - or simply aren’t sure if they’re dead or if the issue is elsewhere - you can drop the battery on its base from about 10 cm high. If it bounces, it’s empty; if it doesn’t, it’s full. Allegedly, this doesn’t work with all types of batteries, but it probably works with the ones you’re using, which are likely Alkaline AA or AAA ones.
After your turn the water off in the shower but before you get out, use your hands to wipe off any standing water on your body. Maybe even give your legs a bit of a shake. This way, you won’t drip nearly as much when you get out, keeping the floor and your towel drier.
Are there people that don't do this? Wouldn't they absolutely soak their bathroom floor?
Heck, I do this and then use a small towel to get the rest of the initial water off while I'm stood in the shower, that way when I step out I'm no longer dripping wet, and my big main towel can do the rest of the work without needing to get soaked itself.
It can just be thrown on the bed to dry, no need to unfold it, and the smaller very wet towel is easier to find somewhere to hang up.
Anyway that's my system, a little addition to your tip :-)