it's been a year since my last entry. Many things happened in my life since July 2016. On the Positive Side: I succeeded in my job interview, I got the job in Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (first foreign branch of Cleveland Clinic), I make around $140K a year as a 26 year old guy which is pretty good (really good income for my age group in my country). I bought my own car which is from where I come is like a rite of passage to signal that you are a self-sufficient grown up. Though I still failed resisting societal pressure and ended up buying an expensive car just to maintain a certain social status look I started taking care of my physical looks even more with the addition of having a skincare routine which I have been relatively consistent with for the past 8 months. I had really good results and everyone comments on how clear and clean my face looks (lots of girls ask me if I had Botox injected into my face ) On the Negative Side My mother lost her 2 years long battle with cancer and passed away 3 months ago on May 3rd, which brought closure to the whole family and an end to her suffering. Am slowly recovering from the impact and the constant stress I was going through for the past 2 years and a half. In terms of gaming, I relapsed a few months after my last journal entry due to poor planning for Specific Situation and basically replacing a gaming addiction to video entertainment addiction (anime/TV Shows), I would say the whole dilemma is a constant need for instant gratification. I failed in my Piano journey too, I completed 3 months but with poor results because I would attend the weekly classes but won't study afterwards (30 minutes to 1 hour study time per day is required to achieve anything meaningful). I failed my fitness journey, I had started working out for 3 months with a relatively good consistency (4-2 times a week), until I started lying to my personal trainer when I felt tired (lack of sleep) and my trainer started to become unprofessional by poor keeping my schedule (because he was chatting with girls) which in turn gave me an excuse to skip the gym. From July 2016 till Nov 2016 I was in the process of starting a Beard oil company but scraped the idea later on due to the easy entry of this business and the unethical aspect (basically lying to customers about the benefits, beard oil doesn't do shit except as a styling product and to keep the hair less messy). From Jan 2017 (when I joined Cleveland hospital) till like March 2017 I was facing a very stressful time as I found out that I was working in a negative environment filled with workplace aggression and long work hours which eroded my free time, my current schedule is a mess, I work 8 AM to 4:30 PM, reach home by 5:15, sleep due to tiredness, wake up at 10:00 PM and sleep again at 1:00 AM. From March 2017 till May 2017 I was with my mother in New York to take care of her while she was on her deathbed. Since she passed away I have been avoiding anything that might remind me of her and pretty much spent most of my time working and playing video games (coping with stress). Before my mother passed away she transferred one of her business stores ownership to me, I have an empty store that am planning to turn into a niche cosmetics retailer but I have been procrastinating since 2 months now and haven't worked on the business. tl;dr Am starting to get more anxious as am getting closer to turn 27 years old (Oct 20th) which triggered me to wake up from slumber and get on the improvement journey again, I will make use of my previous experience and map the reasons of why I failed in my previous attempts. Now I will mention few things that I had found to be MUST-DO if you wanna avoid relapsing and keep making progress: 1. Make Sleeping a priority: Sleep 6-9 hours a day to make sure you wakeup fully rested and have energy in the evening to do stuff such as work on your business/hobbies. Nothing saps away motivation and willpower as fast as tiredness. 2. Plan activities for Specific Situations: YOU MUST have a plan to deal with specific situations such as being stressed with work or family issues or you will turn back to whatever gives your comfort and let your escape the moment (gaming/drugs/bad relationships..etc) 3. Don't do many things at once: I suggest you work on 1-2 hobbies (for me that would be exercising and learning the Piano), and one work-related activity (job or business). Doing too many things at once will burn you out and you will eventually relapse and stop working on anything. 4. NEVER GIVE UP, ITS NEVER TOO LATE: I have failed so many goals I had set up for over a decade now but looking back from where I started I still ended up making quite a progress and am getting closer to realising the goals I have been failing for years, so just keep going because trust me you won't be able to live with yourself if you stopped this journey and years later on your deathbed you will start regretting all things you wish you had done and achieved, because that regret is real and I have seen it personally with my own mother and all of us will go through it eventually, better die with a clear conscious knowing you had done everything in your power to change, move forward and get what you think you deserve in this life (ok am rumbling too much at this moment). Till the next entry. Take care !