Here I am, 2023! Reporting for duty on this earth with this life of mine, as earthling, trying to live life to the best and to enjoy every moment of it and be some good to people around me. That is my goal in life. So for 2023, here are some work areas for me to improve myself to be a better version of myself.
1) No Food Wastage
I cannot say I will go for Zero Waste, that is such a high ideal and I will easily fall short of this elite lifestyle. But to start with no wastage where possible, be mindful of what I buy or acquire just to be able to satisfy my urge to buy and accumulate. This is something I need to work hard on and overcome. Over the years, dry pantry is full, my freezer is full of frozen stuff and my fridge and top freezer constantly full, in that containers and packages would fall out as you open the fridge door!
I realised my obsession during MCO due to COVID-19 pandemic, I would stock up even more until many of the food items have expired and needed to be thrown away. So, when the maid left for her break on 4 August 2022, I told myself I would finish off all the freezer food and can food I have accumulated all the years and I quickly realised that I was wrong !
- I realise how little food we actually eat, for a family of 3 - 4 persons, I would prepare dinner for 5 nights and we eat out during weekends. There was no family dinner for that 5 months she was away, hence even harder to clear any of the frozen food.
- During that 5 months, I could not even take out any frozen food as they were stuck to the freezer and I ended up only buying chikcen and sometimes pork, some time I would buy beef for rendang or to make sweddish meatballs with chicken meat.
- I cleared the fridge every 10 days of expired food (usually from the food panda delivery, extra food but forgotten). Those I could cook for the dogs will be used up, the rest all to the dustbins.
- I started a bio garbbage bin but it filled up so fast and was not able to decompose fast enough. I realise we have so much bio waste everyday from juicing and cooking. So much of vegeatables are cut and throw away. My maid lied to me for years that she would plant them into the soil but when she left I was her where she planted the veggie, she could not say which spots and looking at the garden full with grass, I knew she has been lying about decomposing all our vegetable waste, she just threw them into dustbin or next door empty land.
- Having no maid made me in touch with my family food security needs, we actually need very little to survive, even more so, we hardly hosted any fellowship meals for the past 2 years due to COVID19 and zero hosting during the 5 months without maid.
So, I gather, the problem has been me, the mistakes made has been mine. I fail to realise that how tiny is our food security needs, I have no needs to stock up anymore, in fact, I should start to cook up all the food I find in my pantry and freezer.
2) Be a Creative Chef
When the freezer door popped up due to too much ice accumulated even though I did not open it for a while, I started to take pacakges of frozen meat out that I had no idea what they were. So it became a challage game, I would transferred few packages of frozen food into my fridge and let then thaw, then once I recognised what meat or stuff they were, I would have to cook them as they were thawed. It was a good idea and I liked the challenge although certain days, I would discovered 10 breastmeat and its hard to cook 3 different dishes out of them, one of the dishes would probably look like an accident. This challenge was harder than I thought cos sometimes a pack of sea cucumber and a pack cheese looked like meat when they are frozen.
3) Swedish Death Cleaning
In Chinese, there is a saying that those who prepare for their end-life such as funeral arrangement, buying burial plot, would end up having a long life. It seems just like what Jesus has said, a kernel of wheat dies to produce many seeds.
John 12:24
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
So, it is true to live well, one must prepare for death, the manner we can prepare ourselves and to lessen the burden for our loved ones, is a loving gesture and legacy we leave behind.
I like to prepare towards this Swedish Death Cleaning challenge, it will take me years to prepare mentally, I probably would fail miseably but it has to be done anyway. I will attempt to do some decluttering this year. As advised by the book and decluttering experts, start with the big items that are not personal to me, it would be easier to part with them. Then move down to other items. I think for starter, I need to regain my lost space due to storage in rooms, even study room is now packed with storage boxes.
The one that would be easier to give away with a purpose is the GB resource matearials and books for the library. Perhaps the University notes should be scanned or threw away if they no longer intact. At this point, writing this, I feel heavy burden to even start this challenge but I pray to God that I would have good health to start this decluttering.
These 5 months without maid also taught me that maid cannot never know my thinking and how I want to store things, many things have been put away by the maid and still have not surfaced after all these years. They have no passion, this is not their home, they do not dare to throw away our stuff and they are ultimately not responsible for the tidiness of the house due to stuff everywhere.
4) Intentional Friendships
Mindful relationships is key for long-term friendship towards the end of career, yes, we will meet new friends and have our good time but nothing beats having friends from older days to accompany us during our golden years, and friendships need investing time and care for one another for it to grow. I would intentionally look for friends to have fellowhsip meals and just a cup of coffee or tea.
There is a saying : If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. I am very much a people person when it comes to travelling or going places although I love my solitude times. It is people that we have to invest our life into, my children, my families, my junior colleagues, my brigaders, my students.
5) Mind and Body Matters
Better version of me has to do with the body and mind and how I grow in this new year. I need to set aside me time to look after myself, I need to pick up exercises and incorpate healthy hacks into my daily routines. Some of the remedies are organic and natural and I would incoiporate them based on detox knowledge that I have learnt from past years and the internet.
- I would go for Aenon Health Detox in April for 10 days. Before that I should reduce my weight to a total loss of 14 Kg before the Detox, so that during the camp, I could concentrate to lose further more weights.
- Early morning routines to include Atomy HemoHIM one pack on empty stomach, follow up Tumeric Juice and Veggie Juicing before taking the daily Hypertension medication. I would take the second pack of HemoHim during the afternoon or evening (especially when I feel the pain in the fingers joints).
- To drink at least 1 litre of Pur-Er Tea, brew and bring to work. Both HemoHIM and Pur-Er Tea helps to clearn the inflammation of my finger joints which was really bad during the 5 months without maid, during washing up of cooking utensils and dishes (you would not believe how many items they are to prepare a meal for 3 person!), and early morning, my fingers would be jammed up, numb or in great pain .I went for a lot of massages, sometimes twice a week and it only gave temporaray relief for that night. I realise that I have to take some natural remedy, so I find Atomy HemoHIM and Pur-Er Tea is a wonderful combination that works for me.
- I have to go for a exercise routine or regular suana sessions to make my body fitter and better. No idea what this will entail but this is what I hope to do. Of course, losing more weight will lessen the joint pain but somehow this routine has to be set. I am hoping some exercise classes will open again but really I have no excuse as I have a gym room in my house and I have acquired many of pilates exercise items.
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