September-October update

I have realised a few things recently, with this new chapter of my life starting. Here's a summary of my thoughts and ideas recently

I'm really enjoying my course (MA Egyptology); actually I'm LOVING it :) I just love being busy! I love having a whole load of things to do, as long as I can stay on top of them! My amazona is really helping me do that! Well, really, it isn't my actual amazona binder, it's the way I've set it up, and I'll be doing a post on this soon. The main thing that helps is making sure I write down all of my work and deadlines, and forward planning when I should work on them. I know, I know, this is such an obvious thing to do to stay organised, but it's something that I didn't do last year and therefore is REALLY making a difference for me now!

But... I really have to make some other improvements in my life, especially in staying organised in other areas of my life, and keeping my priorities in mind.
After a visit to the bank, I realise I REALLY need to stay organised financially. I'm the sort of person who will live quite happily in denial, and that really isn't good when it's something as important as money. I spent an hour writing a list of rules and other important things in my filofax to try to keep me on the straight and narrow financially. But besides sticking to these rules and my budget, the thing I really need to do is change my psychology; change my 'Mrs I Want' side of my brain, i.e. not buy things as soon as I decide I want them, regardless of whether I need them or not, or can afford them or not. It's going to be a struggle, but if it works, it's going to be a good life lesson!
Sorting out my life priorities is another thing I need to change my psychology for. Like I have 'Mrs I Want' in my brain, I have 'Mrs I Can't Wait' too, so that when I want to do something, e.g. watch a TV programme, I'll do it now instead of working out when I have some free time to do it, or waiting until I have finished my work. So on a bad day, my desire for fun far outweighs my need to do work. On one of these typical bad days (they happen once, maybe twice a week), I will lay in bed, with my laptop on my knees, watching TV while simultaneously reading blogs and surfing the web. Not a bad thing to do occasionally, you might think, especially when I tend to work through weekends without a proper break. But on those days, I don't do ANY work, although I know I should, and it's negative on my health too. I lay in my bed, usually in a position that hurts my neck a lot after a few hours; and I'm so lazy that I won't get out of bed to get a drink until I'm REALLY dehydrated and desperately in need of water (I don't drink enough as it is). I know I need to change this. I recently bought a jug, so that solves the water problem, as I can keep refilling my glass. But my main problem is that whole day I waste in bed. Last year I never scheduled any days off, like normal people have weekends; so much so that I found my brain just crashed like an overworked computer. I really do need time off this year, but the thing is, I need to schedule it to a time when it won't impinge on my work. This is the thing I need to make sure I do each week. I need that day off per week for relaxation, and as something to look forward to during the week. And as a cure for Mrs I Want, I'm going to write a list of TV programmes I want to watch on that day off, so it's a day I can really look forward to.
I have also realised another priority recently; my own health and well-being. I know realise that, during this extremely stressful year, I won't be able to do my best if I don't stay healthy. As I said, I never drink enough, so I'm usually dehydrated (but don't realise it). I also lack vitamins most of the time because I don't have a great variety in my diet. I lack sleep sometimes, but even on days when I have had my 8 hours, I'm still tired because I just always on the go. And an inherent thing in my brain, I am often stressed, although I don't realise it until the physical symptoms are showing (twitching eyelid or lips, heart palpitations, severely painful headache (although thankfully only lasts about 5 seconds at a time), and at my worst, really aching legs and aching kidneys, plus the headache). I'm sure a lot of you, especially Caribbean Princess if she's reading, will tell me off for letting myself get this unhealthy. But I will try to change this! I promise to drink more water, take vitamin tablets, sleep more and do yoga or something!
And, overall, I promise to keep my priorities in order and at the front of my mind. Uni work first, then health and well-being, then fun, although they could overlap. Obviously, I can stop my uni work to go and make a sandwich and refill my jug. My I just can't watch TV instead of doing my uni work when it's not in my free time, because uni work comes first.

I am going to try to implement these changes in my personal Filofax, which, as soon as I am happy with the set up, I will blog about :)

Hope you are all having a fun weekend!!