Discipline

 Going Mental  No Responses »
Sep 142016
 

Recently,Β a friend asked me how it is going with the discipline. At first I thought he meant my cats or my husband! πŸ˜€ (hahah)

He meant my new ‘work’ life as a self-employed person. It brought forth a common theme that I revisit regularly in my posts and my life – maintaining some kind of schedule or ‘discipline’.

This past week has been the second Eid (Eid-al-adha) holidays that finally marks the end of the Ramadan season for this year. We will have almost 10 weeks now without any further interruptions in work routines (perhaps a day here or there), but for the most part, everyone – including myself – can rely on a more regular pattern of life. Although we are still waiting for ‘normal’ life to return, we have fallen into a pattern of sorts for the time being. However, as you can see from my posting calendar, I have not been able to stay ‘on-schedule’ this week with hubby home and making plans to see people while they are still free.

As I wrote before, it is a bit difficult for me to find the right balance still between allowing my new freedom to be just that and my habitual inclination to need to feel ‘busy’ or ‘working’. Of course, I do need to work on my business, promote a new course for my yoga teacher as part of an agreement/venture, blog, write, and so on. There is always something to do, no doubt.

Perhaps once I can do my writing and office work at home, I will find myself more disciplined. For now, I am working on preparing myself for an influx of clients and being open to their potential timings, which means more flexibility in my sleep hours, etc. πŸ˜› So, baby steps, but every moment and every change contributes to where our future is heading; therefore, I am confident that it will not be a matter of discipline, but rather a contented new way of life. πŸ™‚

~T πŸ˜€

Fashion Crisis

 Going Mental  No Responses »
Sep 072016
 

Since I was old enough to understand the art of dressing myself, I have struggled to find my own style whilst also staying current with some trends. In Japan, it was a struggle to fit in as people’s fashion represents their role of the day. For example, if one is a housewife, then usually some kind of long khaki dress covered by a flowery apron would best represent this role. Or, if one is going on a hike, then it is important to have the correct hiking pants, shirt, shoes and backpack to show that one is part of the hiking group.

As someone who has never been the ‘go with the crowd’ or conformist-type, this was something akin to a nightmare. Throughout life, anywhere in the world, people like to dress according to their role or peers in similar roles. Let’s look at the typical teacher outfit where I live now. Most people wear long skirts to meet the dress code requirement of covering the knees. To see a woman in a pencil skirt would be rare, though it might be more flattering. The long skirts are covered by a some kind of shirt that covers the arms to the elbows and any other shape that might be misconstrued (maybe a slight exaggeration), but you get the idea. While I did conform for rules-sake, I tried hard to avoid the typical teacher-look.

My closet was built over the years carefully. I spent more money for quality items and although one might say I have too many clothes, I retort with the fact that I wear every item that I own regularly – not just when the mood suits.

With that said, I now am in a new fashion crisis. What do I wear now that I do not work?

I refuse to walk around all day in my yoga leggings to prove that I am a yogi, besides in this country I think it is inappropriate – yes, I may have lived here too long. But, seriously, do I really want to see women’s bums in the tight and only occasionally flattering leggings all the time? No! πŸ˜›

Many years ago I read that one should not succumb to wear sweatpants or pajamas all day even when staying around the house because it creates an energy of laziness and not caring or respecting the self enough to show pride in getting ‘ready’ each day. What exactly one needs to be ready for, I’m not sure, and it is possible this was an old housewife handbook. πŸ˜€ However, this still stuck with me. I do tend to agree.

If I allow myself to wear ‘comfy’ clothes all day, I generally feel as if my day never fully started. Although this is totally needed once in a while, I definitely do not want to make it a habit as a self-employed housewife. So…what to do?

comfy look

nice look

I have a closet full of work clothes that I cannot quite yet part with as one never knows if I will end up going back to full-time work in a university/office. I also have a shelf full of comfortable pants…. At the moment, I alternate or just go with a mood. However, it is a bit of a crisis (dramatic effect!) in my fashion world to match my new life role… πŸ˜›

~T πŸ˜€

Mindset Turmoil

 Going Mental  No Responses »
Sep 062016
 

Aside from the unique stress caused byΒ our current life situation, I also have inner turmoil (a bit dramatic of a word?) regarding my change in lifestyle.

Yesterday I wrote about my recent dabblings into the world of networking and the dreaded ‘housewife’ world. These are just a glimpse of the many ways in which my mindset is being required to shift each day.

For example, I cannot quite decide if it is okay to relax on some days when I feel less motivated to do anything (like today) or if I should continue to push through to keep to a schedule that is almost as if I am working full-time. Or, should I start to adjust my regular schedule so that I can stay awake later to accommodate clients that are going to want evening classes and yet still wake up early to go to the gym with M and start my day as usual. Talk about first-world problems, eh? πŸ˜›

Mostly, I worry about finding myself busy at the expense of my sleep and health. Although I want to be able to meet the schedules of clients who probably will have full-time jobs and/or be more night people than I am, I also want to maintain what works for me, which involves getting at least 8 hours of sleep and having enough time to do my writing, house cleaning, exercising and other daily activities. I mean, if I wanted to work ‘hard’ I would have kept my full-time job, right?! 😐

Therefore, I have mulled over how to adjust my mindset a bit more. First, it might be that I have to force myself to make 10pm my bedtime instead of 9pm. This will give me an extra hour at night to allow for clients who might want a yoga session 7-8pm or something like this. Also, I want to continue to wake up with my husband to go to the gym, etc. Thus, this means that likely I will need to block off some time in the middle of the day for me to have a wee nap to ensure that I have the energy that I need for both the mornings and evenings. It reminds me of my schedule when I first arrived here…. πŸ™‚

Now, all I have to really consider is how to deal with days like today when I could have easily put on my sweatpants and hung around the house all day. The only real reason I did not is because there is no Internet or TV in the house to keep me there along with my inner voice telling me I have some things to get done today at least. Still, the other voice inside me says, what’s the point of being free if I cannot allow myself to decide in the morning to sit by the pool all day if that is how I feel?

Ultimately, I think it is just going to take me a little bit of time to get out of the mindset of a full-time worker. Probably once we have some normalcy in the rest of our lives then I can allow myself to relax and settle into this new mysterious world of the self-employed housewife! πŸ˜›

~T πŸ˜€

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