Tag: March recap

March Recap | Spring 2024

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Continuing from where I left off last month, I didn’t keep up with my daily goal of reading 10 pages a day because I chose to spend that time on other things. If I were to resume reading, I would prefer to do it at bedtime rather than first thing in the morning. The book I had been reading before I stopped this habit was a bit boring, but I do intend to finish it eventually. It’s not a terrible book; I just don’t want to invest too much mental energy into it right now.

＊˚*•̩̩͙ Who I Am Becoming •̩̩͙*˚＊

Ever since my PT appointment at the end of February, I have been struggling to maintain my strict daily routine of two 45-minute workouts, having a clean diet, reading 10 pages, and drinking close to a gallon of water. I managed to follow a program called 75 Hard for 30 days (I won’t go into detail about it here), but I did learn a lot from it. I discovered what doesn’t work for me and what is beneficial, even if it’s not what I feel like doing. Wanting to do something and actually doing it are two different things. It’s important not to make decisions based solely on emotions and feelings.

I had another PT appointment at the end of March, and I need to start tracking my water intake because the headaches have returned with a vengeance. Drinking 2-3 large bottles of water is non-negotiable for me, even though I struggle to drink plain water if I’m not actively tracking it. I’ve also started adding 5-calorie drink mixes to my water, which makes it much more palatable for me. However, the artificial sugars and food coloring in these drinks could be making my headaches worse. I also tried cutting out caffeine, but I experienced withdrawal headaches, so I’m back to drinking orange pekoe tea again. The goal here is to stay hydrated. Speaking of goals, here is a recap of my monthly goals for March 2024:

March Recap 2024

Career Goals:

  • Bid for shifts for March as they become available When it came time to bid on shifts, the shift callouts were super last minute so I decided not to bid on them.
  • Catch up on emails if there are any I am mostly caught up on emails. There is a random MLL course that I need to take though.
  • Add 5 new designs on #Redbubble Redbubble fixed the pricing issue, so I’m not sure what was up with that. All of my stickers are priced from $1.63 if you buy any 10 stickers in my shop. I don’t know how many designs I added in March because I got distracted by another hobby. I currently have 96 designs in my Redbubble shop. Btw, it’s cherry blossom season and I’ve added several cherry blossom sticker designs to my shop!
  • Design more art for my Ko-fi gallery + do more research I’ve decided to pivot away from this and focus more on local markets. I’ll start locally and see how it goes from there. I want to test the waters first, so I’ll probably try Facebook Marketplace, even though I haven’t used my FB account since 2017. Before I start selling anything, I need to build my inventory, so that’s what I will be working on in the upcoming months.

🌸 My Redbubble Shop: @sereneluna 🌸

Personal Goals:

  • Publish 1-2 blog posts + monthly goals/recap blog posts I’m not doing much extra in terms of blogging because I make $0 from blogging. It doesn’t seem like a good use of my time. That being said, blogging helps keep me accountable so that’s why I upload blog posts month after month.
  • Write 1 personal development article for #Medium Yes! I actually did this mainly because you have to stay active if you’re part of the Medium Partner Program (MPP). Because my article is about writing for Medium, I didn’t share the article separately on my blog. However, if you would like to read my article, you can read it here.
  • Keep tabs on doctor’s appointments/pending appointments I somehow manage by using my phone calendar. Tomorrow will try and get forms from the Montessori that I need to fill out for my toddler.
  • Read 10 pages of a personal development book each day Nope, it did not happen. I miss reading but my current personal development book is boring so I’m not too eager to read right now.
  • Send snail mail before end of the month Yes! I sent snail mail and everyone got their mail by the end of the month so that makes me happy.

(っ◔◡◔)っ Want to buy me a coffee? Now you can! 👉 https://ko-fi.com/sereneluna

Health Goals:

  • Aim for 10,000 steps/day I have been averaging 4,500 – 6,000 steps/day which isn’t great.
  • Limit drinks to water, tea, and coffee I’m pretty good with this, but I do struggle to drink plain water. I much rather drink orange pekoe tea. The 5-cal drink mixes help me drink more water but I try to drink plain water most days.
  • Track hydration on Water Llama app I frequently forget to monitor my water consumption, but my physiotherapist has advised me to track it regularly and be more diligent about it.
  • Track steps on Pikmin Bloom app The app helps keep me motivated, and I still recommend this free app to anyone who likes to gamify fitness. You can read my review about this app here.
  • Healthy/clean eating 80% of the time I follow a HCLF diet these days. If you’re not familiar with this acronym, please google it. I’m tired of constantly having to explain myself and deal with others’ opinions. This diet may not be popular, but it’s common in Asia and Africa. I’ve noticed that many people in the Western world are overweight or obese, so I’m making an effort to distance myself as much as possible from the Standard American Diet (SAD) and trendy diets like low carb, paleo, keto, etc. By default, my diet is mostly vegan but I do eat meat and dairy as long as it qualifies as low fat.

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ FINAL THOUGHTS ♥

I also want to mention that I completely forgot about my “Power List” because I don’t like writing things down in a notebook and often forget to write things down in a notepad on my phone. The power list absolutely does work if you’re actively keeping on top of your critical tasks. For me, it’s remembering to do the thing that I’m struggling with the most. I have tried productivity apps. I have tried sticky notes. I have tried a notebook only to lose the notebook on multiple occasions. I wish my ADD brain would remember to do things without needing constant reminders. I need to find a better way to remember everything each day. I tend to get fixated on one or two things and forget about everything else. That’s the unmedicated ADD brain for you, minus the hyperactivity. I don’t have the hyperactive aspect of ADHD.

👉 This is my 💩 to do notebook, where I write down my tasks. Doing the tasks is still hard for me.

Finally, I am curious to know what your goals were for the month of March and whether or not you accomplished what you were hoping to. Feel free to let me know in the comments section below ↓ Also, I would really appreciate it if you followed me on Twitter/𝕏 (@serene_hilz), that is, if you aren’t already a follower. It is harder than ever to grow on that platform but I really do enjoy using it to connect with like-minded bloggers.

Thanks for stopping by! ♥

March Recap | Spring 2023

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Spring is here and it’s time to spring forward. That being said, it doesn’t feel like Spring here and there’s still lots of snow on the ground. Oh, the joys of living in Canada! 🍁

This month has taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of learning to let go and move on with your life. Although I have made some progress, I still have a long journey ahead of me. I have the itch to physically and emotionally declutter my space, so that is what I have been doing. I am currently in the process of decluttering my old laptop, phone, and #Twitter feed. It’s a work in progress but I am starting to feel a bit lighter.

Fill Your Own Cup First

This month, I only shared one post on this blog other than my Monthly Goals and Recaps. Although I had anticipated sharing more articles from Medium, I hadn’t found the time to do it yet. Nevertheless, I still have the intention of publishing my most recent article from Medium on here as it is an inspiring self-help article! If you want to read it now, I will share the Medium link here:

♡ Related Article: Nobody is Coming to Save You

Trial and Error

I also started a 1-month Medium subscription trial earlier this month and have already made plans to write an article regarding my experience with that. Although this content won’t be published on my blog due to its highly niche-specific nature and the fact that not all readers of my blog may be as interested in this subject matter, I do plan on writing th follow-up article eventually. For now, you can check out my article about my initial thoughts on getting a Medium subscription:

♡  Related Article: That’s it. I’m Buying a Medium Subscription!

MARCH GOALS 2023

Career Goals:

  • Stay up-to-date on my work schedule I wasn’t too pleased with myself during the month of March as I had two days off. One of them was spontaneous as I didn’t feel well and the other one had been planned for a while in order to do some shopping before our trip.
  • Attend in-class sessions on March 14ᵗʰ & 15ᵗʰ I attended this class and got 100% on the exam. I was surprised because I didn’t feel ready to write it.
  • Request March 26ᵗʰ off as it no longer fits my schedule As stated above, I planned this at the beginning of the month.
  • Complete the Connect Care modules on MLL I made sure to review every detail twice prior to the upcoming exam in order to ensure that I had everything covered.

👉 Screenshot of Work Schedule TBU (To be uploaded…eventually)

Personal Goals:

  • Publish 1-2 blog posts + monthly goals/recap blog posts In March, I published only one blog post which was a cross-post from Medium. I didn’t bring anything original to the table this month – sorry.
  • Publish 1-2 articles on Medium + share articles on blog If you’re interested in reading these articles, you can take a look at my work here and here. I already gave an overview of these articles up above (re: Nobody is coming to save you).
  • Sign up for a 1-month Medium Membership trial ✨ Yes, I signed up for the 1-month trial on March 6ᵗʰ Will continue with it once the trial ends? That’s for me to know and for you to find out in a future Medium article.
  • Keep tabs on doctor’s appointments/pending appointments I have been managing my schedule without any sort of planner and it’s amazing that I haven’t missed an appointment yet. However, it is time for me to update my planner this week as doing so will help me stay more organized.
  • Daily Duolingo practice 🇩🇪 I am determined to learn a new language but I’m choosing to take my time and go at my own pace. From what I can remember, I believe I am currently on Day 111 and have been steadily progressing this far. Since starting Duolingo, I have lost count of where exactly in the learning process that I am and know that this streak will be broken once we go on vacation. To be honest, after 3 months of using Duolingo, it has become quite tiresome and mundane which often leads to me forgetting to even open the app unless it notifies me with a reminder. Not gonna lie, I do miss the social aspect of the leagues and will likely re-join at some point.

Health Goals:

  • Treadmill on days I am not working + upload progress At the start of this month, I really made an effort to get back into using the treadmill. Unfortunately, I slipped back into bad habits and eventually stopped. Bad habits seem to repeat themselves, don’t they?
  • Limit drinks to water, tea, and coffee I mostly stuck to water, tea, and coffee this month. I also drank a lot of pineapple juice because I ate a lot canned pineapples 🍍
  • Track steps on Pikmin Bloom app By default, this app tracks my steps. I wasn’t too active with the social aspect, so I didn’t really plant virtual flowers.
  • Healthy/clean eating 80% of the time I was really diligent about eating plant-based during the month of March up until this point lol Since I am currently on the go, I cannot eat as healthy as I would like to. I prefer eating low-fat, plant-based whenever possible. I am not vegetarian or vegan and do eat meat when plant-based meals aren’t an option.
When fresh fruit isn’t an option 🍍

(っ◔◡◔)っ FYI: If you’re not already following me on Twitter (@serene_hilz), I’m tracking my fitness progress, and you can get real-time updates about my day-to-day life there.

•♡•♥•♡•♥•♡•

And there you have it! Just a quick update that I won’t be posting Monthly Goals for April 2023. Why? Because I will be visiting Nick’s relatives in Singapore. Although travelling stresses me out, at least Singapore is a tropical island! 🏝️ I even named my #ACNH island after Sentosa, which is a beautiful place in Singapore. Before I go, I will share with you some photos of Sentosa, my Animal Crossing island. Do you play Animal Crossing too? Let me know in the comments section below ↓

Thanks for stopping by! ♥