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My Journal - Alex


AlexTheGrape

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Morning Success Streak Day 2

Just a quick post this time, I'm been fluffing around thinking about things this afternoon and need to get some solid work done.

Today I went on a computer science trip to the Auckland Orion Health offices, which was a great experience since I got to see what it's like in a civilian tech industry (centered around programming). I would love to work in such a place, I liked the teamwork, collaboration, and open space in the work environment there.

I am changing my streak to a morning success streak, as I just can't reliably do python programming day after day if I have important school work that takes priority. In any case I had a good 20 minute run this morning, but unfortunately I didn't have time to meditate and visualise until later on in the day. I had a cold shower like I said I would, and I'm pretty sure I was much more awake for a few hours afterwards.

3 Things I'm grateful for:

I am grateful for being able to go on a long bus ride home with peers, making it all the more bearable.

I am grateful for my trip to Orion Health.

I am grateful for having a lovely dinner made by my parents.

I thank the universe for this wonderful gift of life and all the opportunity offered by being human.

What went well today:

I had a cold shower like I said I would, and I believed this helped me to make the most out of my day, let alone having a quicker shower. Taking the time to got to a lunchtime maths tutorial will have helped me for my internal exam tomorrow.

What I could have done to make my day better:

I could have minimised the time I messed around after dinner, as that was a good 40 minutes or so I could have spent studying.

What I will do differently tomorrow:

I'll make sure to have my 'work home' (my new phrase for homework that is less discouraging) list and order ready before I get home, so that I can minimize useful 'desk' time (time at home that is most useful for doing school work).

 

This photo was taken by a friend of mine I went out for a photography day with, you may recognize the lake from an earlier uploaded photo. :) 

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You take some awesome pictures bro, im hoping to get my proper camera up n running soon n get out in the outdoors more.

Thanks man, photos help make a journal personal, and getting outdoors to take photos can be very enjoyable and rewarding since you get to keep what you've snapped. I'll be keen to see some of your photography skills! :D

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You take some awesome pictures bro, im hoping to get my proper camera up n running soon n get out in the outdoors more.

Thanks man, photos help make a journal personal, and getting outdoors to take photos can be very enjoyable and rewarding since you get to keep what you've snapped. I'll be keen to see some of your photography skills! :D

Yeah I can see what you mean, I'm trying to add more photos into my journal now too. Trouble is there is only so much you can do with a phone camera haha. I'm just waiting on some batteries and a charger to be brought then I'll be doing the super duper photos that you do. :)

 

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Morning Success Streak Day 3

Today has gone very well: I think I aced my maths internal exam and have done my morning success routine. I have come to realise that the most important part of this routine is the exercise, as it changes how active I am for the most part of the day. Got most of my morning routine done, I just forgot my visualisation and my meditation was interrupted. I think the cold shower surely helped me stay alert for the first half of the day, I flew through my exam and didn't have any concentration problems until after lunch.

I have listened to @kortheo's podcasts and I've been inspired to make my own. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I think I'll do something similar where I voice my thoughts on a particular subject and go through it by talking about it; eventually coming to some conclusion. I've wanted to express my ideas like this before, but I found that talking to myself is a little weird. If it has a particular listener in mind then I'll find it much more interesting to do. I also need to get used to hearing and using my voice for extended periods of time, I want to be a leader of sorts when I get older so I need to learn to control how I talk. 

I had a random urge to play Civilisation 5 this afternoon whilst on the bus home. I don't exactly know why, but it was perhaps because I saw a couple of other people playing games on their phones, I got bored of reading for a bit, and had some spare time on my hands. Anyhow on that bus trip I got some good reading done of a self-development book, which I don't normally do on the bus.

I'm going to prioritise my sleep for now, so I'll likely add the rest of my journal entry in the morning. Peace out!

Here's one of my favourite photos I took in the last Summer holidays (when I did lots of activities out of the house). The Island in the background I got perfectly aligned with the cliff edge :)

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  That's a great quote!

I'm so jealous that you're a legend, but I feel that you've offered some of the most invaluable (it means extremely useful, ironically) advice over the life of GameQuitters, so you deserve it. Kudos, m8!

Btw your new profile picture is FUCKIN AWESOME :D

 

Thanks man! I hope you've used my advice well. I thought this profile picture would reflect me better, I don't wear a suit every day. :P If you stay part of the community long enough and help others get through their detoxes, I'm sure you'll be given a great title too :D

Perhaps you could update your profile pic too? We can't see your face in that one!

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  That's a great quote!

I'm so jealous that you're a legend, but I feel that you've offered some of the most invaluable (it means extremely useful, ironically) advice over the life of GameQuitters, so you deserve it. Kudos, m8!

Btw your new profile picture is FUCKIN AWESOME :D

 

Thanks man! I hope you've used my advice well. I thought this profile picture would reflect me better, I don't wear a suit every day. :P If you stay part of the community long enough and help others get through their detoxes, I'm sure you'll be given a great title too :D

Perhaps you could update your profile pic too? We can't see your face in that one!

Well, ever since about 7th grade, I've been bullied about my appearance, so I'm no longer confident in how I look. But I can definitely keep on offering support to others and maybe I will get a cool title :)

By the way great photography!

Edited by Paul A.
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I catched up a bit with your journal and I see that you did a great progress! You're now not fighting for surviving without games, but you're fighting for thriving and get your best from life! Excellent work and keep fighting like that (even literally, as you have shown us on the photo taken during fencing)

I've heard yesterday from @Piotr that cravings can always come to us, but we can just silence them. And that's probably because we spent so much time on games in our lives, that someone should clear our memory to forget about them. The best way to deal with it is to accept it.

And to improve your leadership skill and public speaking I recommend Toastmasters club. You can go for free and I bet that there is more then 1 club in Auckland.

Greetings, The Pharmacist.

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Morning Success Streak - Ended

Today has been one of the worst I've had in a while, and I'm not entirely sure why. I was just too tired and cold to get out of the house to run this morning, and as a result I threw off my entire morning success routine. I can tell this impacted on my day negatively as I was lethargic and had trouble concentrating, even on the bus to school. I know that having a bad sleep would have contributed to this, but being exercised would have energised me to do more throughout the day. The main issue I had today was that I just was not in the mood for doing homework, and that rarely ever happens (I'd normally push through regardless of my pitiful emotions, I don't give them much attention or thought). I had a lot of thinking instead, but a lot of it wasn't helpful. What I did realize though is that I don't have any close friends at school (okay, maybe one), but not many people who I can be comfortable being 'me' around. I also realized that my motives and interests are very different to my peers and I've felt that I just don't fit in recently. It's largely because I don't have much interest in what I'd call 'comfort activities' such as watching movies, reading fiction, going to parties, and doing what most adults would enjoy (at school I've been focusing on getting extra help for my subjects and being active in various clubs). My gratification has been derived from success and accomplishment for a long time, and was why I found strategy video games so addictive (they provided me with constant measurable growth that couldn't be matched in real life). Another factor as to why I have been feeling down today might be that the weather was cold and rainy, as well as that I have a growing pile of homework that I'm daunted by since I can no longer have time to organise all of it into 'do-able' chunks. So there's my reflection on why I've been suddenly down, but ironically I've still had a good conversation with a teacher today (which should annul my sense of unbelonging) and ironically my focus on being productive has backfired today.

I think if I had taken the time to acknowledge how my morning success routine served me well yesterday, I would have likely carried through with it today. To this end, I will add what I've done well today etc even though it's getting late:

What I've done well today:

I went out of my way to see what the environmental council does at my school, as I have been interested in joining a community that is passionate about the environment. Because of this visit I'll be able to get involved in rubbish cleanups and the tree-planting event next month.

What I will do to make tomorrow better:

I'll make sure to do my morning run, as although it'll be uncomfortable at first, it'll make my day all the better in the long run.

 

I took this picture a year ago out in the park I run past in the morning. I had to get up at 5:30 or so for this, and reminds me of a phrase that reflects what I want to do tomorrow: "The early bird catches the worm".

Thanks for reading this far, reader! :D

Sony Camera Photos 161.JPG

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Morning Success Streak Day 1

Today has been a lot better than yesterday! I dedicated some time to simply socialising today, and although it rained a little, I was much happier than yesterday. I was going to compromise my morning routine by doing a workout (I am supposed to do a run today) but I had a think about the long term implications and I got out for that run. I didn't get very far, but I got out of the house on a cold morning, which is a great improvement from yesterday. I'll be doing a workout tomorrow though, as I tend to alternate between workouts and running. I got into doing work after a few minutes on the bus, and in doing so didn't make time for my morning success routine. I got my cold shower done, despite a bit of hesitation. I wasn't tired in the morning, so it certainly helped with keeping me active. I think I'll define successfully doing my morning routine as doing at least 3 of the 4 activities, being exercising, a cold shower, meditation, and visualisation. I'll be lenient for today though, since exercise and a cold shower were my recent priorities.

3 Things I'm grateful for:

I am grateful for having peers to talk to on the bus ride home.

I am grateful for the opportunity to go to a school ball.

I am grateful for having my dinner made for me tonight.

I thank the universe for this wonderful gift of life and all the opportunities it presents us.

What went well today:

My morning success routine kicked my day off well, and helped me do the best I could at school. Spending time to talk to some friends of mine payed off as I didn't feel down at all this afternoon; my social needs were satisfied. My new trello board for my homework has worked well this afternoon, as I got some old work done that I would have otherwise forgotten about had I written it into my planner book.

What I will do tomorrow to improve my day:

Although a meditation and visualisation would have reset my mind so that it wouldn't have wandered off during the bus trip to school. I'd also be more motivated to do daily activities with visualisation. I think I'll also go back to doing visualisation twice a day, as my values aren't ingrained into my subconsious strong enough to be useful (I do not visualise consistently enough for it to work).

 

This photo I took a year or so ago, of Tigey, one of the cats here. This picture isn't as artistic as some of my other photos, but I can't get over how fluffy his belly is. :D

Sony Camera Photos 069.JPG

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Hey Alex, I felt as a fellow Kiwi I should see what you were up to. My mindset when running in the morning is that when the weather is bad, you go anyway, because you know you will survive just one run like this, just this once. Then every run after that you get up and think "Urgh, looks freezing.....BUT I went that other day and it was worse than this". My personal highlight day was a winter morning in chch where it was hailing and so cold that when I got back I was questioning if I would get me gender defining parts back haha. Now every run has nothing on that one :D

Also your journal has been some inspirational reading here man, you are a resilient dude, you got this.

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I'm so glad I inspired you to start podcasting! Definitely link me when you get one up :D

I sure will! I might have to use my phone or something to record for now though. :P I need to get used to speaking my mind, as I'm very reserved in what I say and often keep my mouth shut so that I don't make any mistakes. That certainly has to change, so starting a podcast would certainly be a great place to practice speaking my mind. Your podcasts have been great so far by the way, I listened to all three of them!

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I catched up a bit with your journal and I see that you did a great progress! You're now not fighting for surviving without games, but you're fighting for thriving and get your best from life! Excellent work and keep fighting like that (even literally, as you have shown us on the photo taken during fencing)

I've heard yesterday from @Piotr that cravings can always come to us, but we can just silence them. And that's probably because we spent so much time on games in our lives, that someone should clear our memory to forget about them. The best way to deal with it is to accept it.

And to improve your leadership skill and public speaking I recommend Toastmasters club. You can go for free and I bet that there is more then 1 club in Auckland.

Greetings, The Pharmacist.

Thanks for your support! I hope you had something to take away from catching up on my journal. I checked the fencing results and it turns out I cam 5th out of 17, which was better than I expected. I will continue fighting for sure :)

Yeah, cravings can come and go, and for the most part they've gone. I think I had them because I haven't been feeling much personal growth recently, so I desired the instant feeling of achievement and growth of video games. You're right, the best thing to do right now is just accept it.

I'll start doing Toastmasters and a variety of other things once I have a car to drive around in, but at the moment I'm rather limited in where I can go without compromising someone else's day. Thank you for the suggestion though, it looks like it'd be a great place to practice public speaking.

All the best with your detox! :D

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I'm so glad I inspired you to start podcasting! Definitely link me when you get one up :D

I sure will! I might have to use my phone or something to record for now though. :P I need to get used to speaking my mind, as I'm very reserved in what I say and often keep my mouth shut so that I don't make any mistakes. That certainly has to change, so starting a podcast would certainly be a great place to practice speaking my mind. Your podcasts have been great so far by the way, I listened to all three of them!

Wow awesome, I'm so glad you liked them! I'm going to do another one this weekend, possibly about my experience/thoughts on quitting games. I definitely have the same issue as you, and it's been great practice for speaking my mind and getting a bit more comfortable with it.

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For Yesterday:

Morning Success Streak Day 2

Today I attempted to do all my morning success habits, but I half-assed a few and I know I could have done better. It was Friday and I ended up watching loads of Youtube videos from The School Of Life (a very helpful channel by the way). I need to find a better way to spend my Fridays, as I certainly don't feel refreshed or relaxed after sitting in silence for a few hours. 

For Today:

Morning Success Streak Day 3

Today I successfully did my morning success routine, as I've had a 25 minute run, meditated, and visualised (3/4 of them finished = complete). I had a warm shower as I had it an hour or so after my run.

I've got my school ball today so I'll hopefully have lots of fun with that!

I'll make sure to write more tomorrow, I don't have much else to say today.

 

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Hey Alex!

I see that you suddenly broke your success streak! It's something that you can avoid and I'll give you advice what to do if a situation like that would happen.

For every goal you've set, you should also set an emergency goal.

What does it mean?

Sometimes we have tough days in our life and we can't do first goal we wanted to do. For you it was running. After that as you mentioned, most of the day or even the entire day can collapse.

So, if you have seriously difficult day, you shouldn't give up on your objectives! Just set an emergency goal!

I'll give you an example: My goal is to write 750 words each day, however sometimes I don't have enought time to do it in the morning, so I have an emergency goal to open website where I write my morning pages and write at least 100 words.

Or I have to study for at least 2 hours each days. But sometimes my mind just want to explode, so what's my emergency goal in case of emergency? To study for at least 5 minutes every 3 most important subjects on my semester (chemistry, botanics, anatomy).

And by doing that I'm still in game! By doing emergency goal, I'm not loosing streak, but also not gaining it! It just get stuck for one difficult day and then I can move forward with my streak days again!

Tell me what do you think about it Alex, because I've recently heard about this method and I'm implementing it into my life right now.

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I can say Travis looks 0% like he does in his profile pic. True story.

Shhhhhhhh

Is that even you in your avatar or did you get a random picture of a dude off the internet? Asking for a friend.

It is me! I swear. Just with longer hair and contacts :P.

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I apologize to the reader for not having posted the past few days, I've had a very busy week so far with exams, speech preparation, and other things. I know you've missed out on some photos, I'll get some for you soon, don't worry!

Morning Success Streak Day 6

Today has been a very busy but rewarding day. I managed to have three exercise sessions: one from running the dog, one from running with the school running club at lunch time, and from fencing practice this afternoon. I've been getting used to the cold showers, and from these I believe I've been more alert.

So I had the ball in the weekend, and it was fantastic! I reckon I enjoyed the after-ball more though, mostly because it was quieter and I could talk with people on a more personal level.

What went well today:

I just typed up about being alert from exercise/cold shower, but I realise that I have been repeating this a lot and I can't say for sure whether this has helped me or not. Asking things politely has got me far today I reckon, just being mindful of others in general has made my day pleasant.

What I could have done to make my day better:

I could have spend less time mucking around after coming home, I could have planned out my afternoon and removed all distractions when trying to work.

What I will do differently tomorrow:

I will make sure to get into my work sooner so that I get some proper study done.

 

This photo is of me and my twin at the ball, our haircuts make it rather easy to tell us apart. :D Not my photography of course.

 

a & j 2016.jpg

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