The 24th Birthday Project: Day Four

 

Self-discoveries: Self-destructive habits

Living a conscious life is not easy, like everything else in life it has its challenges. It requires me to call out myself. Calling myself to order is an important part of my decision to live a conscious life. I have to be aware of when I deviate from my principles and be able to pull myself back on track. It has been quite an uphill task for me. So far these are the self-destructive habits that stood out for me during this year;

·      Overeating – Food is bae, no cap. The importance of food cannot be overestimated. But no matter how delicious it is and the initial high it gives, too much of it is bad. Gluttony is a sin, not just against God, but against humanity (millions of people are starving worldwide) and against ourselves, our bodies are temples and should be treated as such. Having that self-control is not easy though, but I’m trying. When I feel down food uplifts me, temporarily yes, but the guilt afterward kills the whole vibe. Living a long healthy life requires sacrifice and a big tank of self-control. Having control over what we eat projects positively to other areas of our lives.

·      Alcohol – I enjoy drinking, but not excessively. It made it to this list because I misused it during the holidays (2020) and that affected me.  So I was working during the holidays, I live with my family and they all traveled to the village for Christmas and New year celebrations. I was alone with my brother and it felt great. I got the freedom I always wanted, and it was blissful. But work at the time felt stressful. I love my job; I love being a civil engineer but it can be tasking at times. For that period, I spent my nights in deep alcohol-induced sleep. Stress and alcohol are a bad mix, highly not recommended. I realized I was treating my temple (body) poorly and I had to make amends.

·      Indecisiveness- Making my decisions has been easy for me, I know what I want and I don’t want. But during the last year, I noticed I became less decisive. I think the reason was that I became more aware of my flaws and I experienced failure on a big scale. These, induced doses of self-doubts in me, which if given enough time will consume me. It is important to me that I remain decisive, at least 80% of the time. I will continue trying to do better.

·      Procrastination- I’m sure there are a lot of people who are guilty of this, lol. It happens so effortlessly that before I get a hold of myself, my workload is already a mile high. I know how to stay focused on a task and see its end but at the same time, once I start and stop halfway, or don’t start immediately, I get so distracted that I find numerous reasons to justify the distraction. It can be messy and it doesn’t always end well. For example, I normally participate in the Tush Magazine Bi-monthly Writing contest, I make sure to send my article in as early as possible but last month I procrastinated so much that I finished the article an hour before the deadline but couldn’t submit it because it was too late, the email address wasn’t responding. I made up my mind to not be late again and let this one go, then just so the article won’t sit on my laptop aimlessly, I sent the article the next morning after the deadline. To my shock and delight, I was shortlisted and published. This is odd because procrastinating does not usually have a happy ending but this one did. There is no moral to this story, lol, procrastinating is still bad. Getting things done on time reduces pressure and is healthier.