10 Good Habits that Stuck in 2010

Christmas reminds me that 2011 will be here soon, and New Year reminds me of all the things I did not achieve. I am feeling all “woe is me” and “why do I even bother with resolutions”.  But I tend to be harsh on myself, so I will be positive and see if I can list even the tiniest changes I have made for the better over the last year.  Here goes:

1. I hardly chug down soft drinks like Coke anymore (used to always have this with my meals although I was never able to finish a whole can). Diet coke has a funny taste and just doesn’t do it for me like the real thing.  (I am someone who will never drink Pepsi being die hard Team Coke). These days I have chilled water instead, especially if it’s free.  Saves calories and bucks.

2. Stopped watching TV and all the accompanying adverts. Just watch selected good pre-recorded shows without ads. I am a bit out of touch with the latest commercials, but it’s fine by me.  If there’s a super funny one I can watch it on YouTube.  I spend the time blogging instead.  These days when I try watching TV for more than half and hour I get fidgetty and I get a headache.  I remember how I used to watch 2 hours at  a go.  I wonder how I ever did that?  I now know why they call it passive entertainment.

3. I quit Facebook cold turkey.  It was a big waste of time and the privacy violation pissed me off.  It was hard, but I was just too addicted checking it all the time.  Felt like I was stalking my family members when I could just meet them in person and catch up.

4. No more mobile phone.  It’s a pleasure to be not shackled by it.  It truly felt like a chain around my ankle, because many people (not my close friends who are nice people) expected me to return calls immediately and I was actually chided for not doing so. I was so super annoyed.  Lead me to go cold turkey again. Being unemployed allows me to do stuff like this.  The result was so much free time spared and recently I was so happy to meet my dear friend in person recently and we had the best chat ever for 3 hours straight.

5. Been drinking more water as I place a bottle on my desk all the time, so that I naturally reach for it when I’m thirsty.

6. Brushing my teeth after meals. I just like the feeling of clean teeth these days and realize I am not getting any younger and have to take better care of them.  I have zero cavities, but have something worse – terribly weak gums.

7. Stopped buying every women’s magazine out there and read books instead.  When I was working and feeling rich, I used to spend up to a thousand on these in a year. It was to help me de-stress and they did do that job. These days my attention can’t be held very long by local women’s magazines like Her World and Female, that are full of cosmetic ads and fluffy articles that are usually rehashed.  An exception would be a health magazine like Prevention which I actually find very informative and motivational.  I also like getting my information free from the internet and blogs with a real woman’s perspective.

8. Moving to a smaller place made me realize that there’s a lot of stuff I hang on to that I don’t actually need.  I have been slowly de-cluttering, but I find the best way to do it is to not buy any new stuff that I don’t regularly use.  I am now aware of my toiletries inventory. For instance, I know how many bottles of mouth wash I have left in my drawer, so that I don’t overstock.  Somehow when I was working, I tended to buy a lot more stuff than I needed, just because I could. It was definitely retail therapy due to stress. I now absolutely loathe shopping and have zero patience for it.

9.  Blogging is a habit that makes me more aware and present.  It’s great therapy too and I can’t seem to go a day without it.

10. Raspberries are very expensive in Singapore (S$9.80 for a small box that lasts 2 days), but when I feel like I want to detox and get a dose of antioxidants, I love having these with Greek style sour yoghurt for dinner. It’s so good and makes me feel great the next morning.

Having said all this and pumped myself up, I do spend too much time on the internet and need to cut down on this in 2011 and replace it with more book time.  I also need to work on my sleep routine which sucks at the moment. I want to go from owl to early bird.  I guess that’s resolution enough for now.

About bookjunkie

Blogging about life in Singapore & recently cancer too.
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12 Responses to 10 Good Habits that Stuck in 2010

  1. jazziefizzle says:

    ooo it sounds like you have done a very good job this year… especially cutting out the soft drinks and switching to water. I love raspberries too and yes they are expensive in Australia too (I miss living in the UK where you could get a punnet for $2). I just buy frozen berries now, they are just as tasty in yoghurt or baking and keep pretty much forever so no wastage!

    I have stopped buying magazines too (only have a subscription to a food/cooking one), I have realised I really don’t care about celebrity gossip and would much rather read about real people on their interesting blogs 🙂

    Ah if I was you I would be very pleased with your efforts this year! It sounds like you have made some good changes to your life!

    • bookjunkie says:

      Thanks so much for the affirmation Jazzie 🙂 I didn’t realize that raspberries were expensive in Australia too. Somehow strawberries are cheaper in Singapore because we get them from Korea I think, but I just love raspberries out of all the berries.

      When I was younger I loved flipping through magazines to wind down, but that was before the world of blogs especially those by creative and expressive women like yourself, opened up to me. The coolest part…they were from all over the world and content was free.

  2. Kirsten says:

    I have never drunk carbonated drinks. I just can’t stand the feel of it!

    I think I have given in to retail therapy a bit too much this year. Buying random things on a whim – just today I got a pair of shoes and I don’t even usually like fashion shopping! I tried to give it up but it’s so easy to slip back into it without realizing, as well as justifying it in weird ways…

  3. thinkpinktoo says:

    I still chug down heaps of coke but I put it down to the fact that I don’t drink coffee and need my caffeine fix somewhere. Stopped watching tv too because I download everything now and get to watch it at the same time as the US. Facebook is starting to slightly annoy me too… use it less but still have it cos its a great way to stay in touch.

    Three things I am proud about this year is:
    1. Being 2/3s through my MBA
    2. Travling to 4 continents in one year
    3. Actualy attempting to cook for myself – although I should try to do this more often next year.

    • bookjunkie says:

      Your list sounds amazing TPT…..I think you would be a excellent cook 🙂 Hope to see photo of your creations one day.

      Oh yes, without my iced lattes I don’t think I could have reduced my coke habit for sure.

  4. 365days2play says:

    These are really good habits! Don’t think I can even write half as much. What’s in store for next year?

  5. Very impressed at #3 and 4! Good luck for 2011!

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