How We Spend Our Days

Has anyone else been feeling overwhelmed with stress lately? My days have been so packed with work that when I get a free second to myself, I’m not even sure what to do with it anymore. A lot of the healthy habits that I was practicing at the beginning of the semester have been a bit forgotten as a result.

This morning I found a blog post that I had written a little while ago, before things got really hectic. It is an excellent reminder to everyone reading my blog and one that I am going to be more conscious of as well! Today I woke up, and with a spare moment, I enjoyed my coffee on the window seat like I used to when things weren’t so busy, and it felt incredible to take that moment for myself. I hope it inspires you all to do the same.

Above all, my goal for this blog is to spread happiness. I want to help others to find happiness in their everyday lives. Today, I’m going to share one of the things that makes my days significantly happier, and it is super easy to implement into your own way of life.

Every day, I wake up an hour earlier than I have to, make myself breakfast in my room and read by my window. This is such a simple practice. It doesn’t require a lot of extra time, money or energy. Most importantly, the days that I make myself wake up and start the day this way are always so much better than the days I roll out of bed fifteen minutes before my class starts.

I realize it isn’t possible for everyone to wake up that much earlier each day. I realize that some of you have early time commitments or require that extra hour of sleep; however, I guarantee you that there is at least one hour that you spend unproductively every day. Instead of scrolling through your phone for an hour before bed, get ready early and read. Instead of sitting around watching Netflix when you finish classes, hit up the gym. There’s always going to be time that you waste, and that’s fine, but if you can identify this time and use it for something better, then you can change the way you live.

I was talking to my mom the other day about this belief. She’s an incredibly busy woman, and although she really enjoys reading, she rarely ever does it. She can’t find the time to sit down with a novel because her days are packed with so many other things. Recently, though, she started making the time. “If I can’t find the time now,” she said to me, “when will I ever find it?” I was so happy that she had come to this conclusion. Now, she is taking the time that she so deserves, and she finished one of my recent book recommendations in record time.

It doesn’t matter what you are doing with that hour. You have to make the time to do what you love: be it yoga, reading or playing video games.

There’s a fantastic quote that says,

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

Annie Dillard

We are content to live unsatisfying days, expecting a wonderful life to fall into our laps. Don’t waste your days. It is time to start spending those hours the way that you want to spend your life.