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The Day of Doing Nothing Can Benefit Us

One day, I decided to do nothing because I felt my attrition rate increase, especially in tasks requiring creativity. It is because I have been extremely busy with year-end audits, taxes, and other year activities. Although, it was not as bad as the prior year since my husband took over many household chores. I also have been working on improving my lifestyle to be healthier by getting adequate sleep, meditation, proper diet, and exercise. Yet, I noticed that I tend to be less focused. It was high time to relax and refresh my brain.

I wanted to take a week off from work; however, it was impossible to take a whole week off. So, I took two days off—a day for only reading, playing the piano, writing, and thinking. I did the exercise for one of the two days. I made a strict rule not to think about work at all during these two days. I intentionally created two days without a to-do list or appointments, which was surprisingly challenging.

In total, I had two days of vacation. I decided to do whatever I wanted to do that day. One rule I strictly enforced was not to think about my work at all. On the first day, I mostly spend my time reading and playing the piano on these days. I did approximately 90 minutes of exercise during the day. I was physically tired, so I slept so well. I scored 91 on my sleep quality score according to my Fitbit. On the second day, I was doing the same activities as the first day, but I did not exercise. I had too much energy to sleep that night. I am usually busy on my vacation days doing something, and I never noticed this problem. I need to test it again. It will be better for me physically active on my vacation days. Although, I thought two days were too short to be effective.

Sometimes, people purposely take days off from daily routines to be more creatives and focused. Bill Gates takes one week off from his busy life twice a year so that he does nothing but reading articles and books, studying and thinking about the bigger picture (McKeown, 2021). I do not remember when I took a week off for vacation the last time because I spent all my vacation and holidays doing projects. So, I decided to take to see what would happen from the day off.

Surprisingly, many Americans forfeit their vacation times. According to the Washington Post (August 28, 2019), 55% of Americans did not even use their vacation time, leaving 768 million days of unused paid time off. The average number of American’s paid days off is 17.4 days in 2018; however, this number includes paid holidays (para. 9-11). When I came to the United States, I was surprised by this. I am from Canada, and I worked in Germany, where we must provide paid statutory holidays.

Many Americans indeed chose not to use up their paid day off. Perhaps, many of us feel guilty about taking a vacation. Many of us fear we may be seen as more of a liability for the company to take time off. The question we must look into is – are those beliefs are correct? When I thought about this question, I realized that I do not know. I have heard about the benefit of taking breaks from problems or taking a vacation to affect people positively. I assumed that taking breaks allows us to get recharged. Since I was interested, I researched the benefits. Surprisingly, there is ample research about the effects of taking breaks.

Some consulting firms are discovering whether employees taking vacations benefits a company. According to Rook from JP Griff Group (June 3, 2019), the 2017 project study they conducted revealed that the employees who forfeit their vacation were 4 % less likely to receive raises and 6 % less likely to receive bonuses (para. 10). They found out that people who continue to work without a break or vacation; are less focused and less engaged. They are more likely to make mistakes because they are fatigued. It gets much harder to generate new ideas with an overused brain.

Taking days off improves our productivity has been empirically observed and is a generally accepted scientific theory. Some researchers observed the benefits from it; then, they further investigated how the benefits are created. Being away from work allows our brain to generate more ideas and solutions to the problem, which psychologists call the incubation effect. According to Ritter & Dijksterhuis (2014), the effects of incubation are generally accepted; however, there are two opposing theories of how the benefits are created, the Unconscious work theory and the conscious work theory. The Unconscious work theory suggests that our unconscious activity of solving the problem contributes to the effect. The Conscious work theory argues that the effect is caused by actively relaxing the brain by being away from the problem (pp.4-5).

A few days of incubating problems allows us to solve the problems, especially problems that require remote association. Researchers theorized that sleep has an essential role in the incubation effect. Scientists have found that REM sleep enhances our creativity. According to Wagner et al. (as cited in Ritter and Dijkstehuis, 2014), students who slept more than seven hours at least twice were more creative and solved problems faster than people who did not. Sleep enhances cognitive flexibility and the ability to find remote associations.

Furthermore, sleep allows students to find solutions to abstract problems (p. 4). This theory interested me because I had found that I could solve problems during dreaming when I was in high school. It tends to happen when I have been thinking about the same problem for at least three days. It happens a lot with me with math problems. The last time it occurred to me was a few months ago when I was building a query. Unfortunately, I cannot control this ability. I always speculated that my brain removes the limit of my creativity during sleep, which allowed me to solve the problem.  So, sleeping has a vital role in the incubation effect. Then we should not be spending our days off partying all night.

People need days off because taking days off allows us to walk away from the problems at work. There will be no phones, tablets, or laptops. Stay away from the work because you want to be actively not thinking about the work. Another important part is we still need to get adequate sleep during days off. After struggling to solve a problem, try to walk away from it. Sometimes working away from the problems leads us to their solutions.

This little research made me view vacations differently. Perhaps, we need breaks to be more productive and creative. I thought people say it to sound and humanely compliant for a company. We, accountants, flags other accountants if they do not take breaks—accountants believe in taking vacations to prevent fraud. We gain benefits from taking days off. After my investigation, I realized that we should take days off to be more focused, creative, and productive. Getting adequate sleep is also important while doing so. Sometimes, walking away from problems leads you to the solutions. Although, this may not be economically feasible for some people. According to the Center for Economic and Research, The United States requires zero yearly time off, much lower than France, Austria, Spain, Germany, Canada, and Japan (as cited in Sampson, August 28, 2019, para. 3). In some cases, people do not get paid off at all. Although, many of us do have paid vacation. If you choose not to use up the paid days off, you may want to reconsider taking them. I will try to use up my vacation this year, and I will try to go somewhere next time and note any differences.

References

McKeown, Greg. (2021). Essentialism. [Kindle edition].

Ritter, S. M., &Dijksterhuis, A. (2014). Creativity—The unconscious foundations of the incubation period. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00215

Rook, David. (June 3, 2019). JP Griffin Group. The Importance of Paid Time Off (PTO). https://www.griffinbenefits.com/blog/the-importance-of-paid-time-off-as-an-employee-benefit

Sampson, Hannah. (August 28, 2019). What Does America Have Against Vacation?https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/08/28/what-does-america-have-against-vacation/

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Escaping the Infinite Loophole

For years, I kept myself as busy as possible. I always had long-term and short-term goals, which I used for generating my to-do list. I earned a graduate degree and professional designations while I was working full time. I even managed to eat, sleep, and exercise regularly. Then, my husband became ill, and I almost lost him. The sense of guilt haunts me for being idle. Since my husband could not do some of the house chores, I took over all of them.

Despite the additional work, I managed to do some exercises with my busy schedule until some events would push me to the edge. Then, I was too busy to do some tasks such as exercising, sleeping, cooking good meals, or spending my time with my family or friends – which I now think should have been higher on my priority list. I neglected my body, social life, and mental life. As a result, I gained weight, felt ill and unhappy. My condition was affecting my husband. When I am felt low and sick, it made my husband feel sad.

I think I exceeded my actual capacity. Since it seemed to be working, I thought I could maintain this schedule rather than prioritizing tasks or delegating work. How arrogant and wrong I was. I felt physically and mentally ill several months ago. Since then, I have been rethinking my lifestyle. If I did not feel sick physically several months ago, I probably would have continued to ignore this impending problem.

It puzzled me why I could not detect this problem earlier. Perhaps, I have never seen this situation as a bad thing. We grow up with the mind that working hard is good behavior. My culture, Japanese, views overworked people as respectable people. We have people dying from overworking, which we describe as “Karoshi.” According to Reuters (2015), 1,456 Japanese people were reported dead from overworking in 2015; however, the actual number was probably ten times higher (para. 3). My parents always worked long and hard hours. My mother often came back late during month-end. Sometimes, she even brought back work at home and worked past midnight. My sister and I helped with household chores, but my mother worked a lot. Everyone around me worked long hours. This “overworking” syndrome is manifested in many countries throughout Asia. We believe that a respectable person must work hard; Confucius heavily influences this belief. I left my country a long time ago, but I never got rid of this norm or expectation.

Working excessively hard is physically and mentally unhealthy because the endless work puts us under a constant sense of urgency. The endless work makes us feel a lack of control. This feeling puts us under a lot of stress. When we are under constant pressure, our body goes into a fight-or-flight condition. According to Mayo Clinic (March 19, 2019), Our bodies increase adrenaline and cortisol production to prepare us to fight off danger. Of course, this is a survival mechanism. However, the long-term activation of the stress mechanism forces us to overexpose ourselves to cortisol and other stress hormones, which can harm our health in the long run (para 5-7). In my situation, my constant stress caused me anxiety, sleep problems, and weight gain. Unless I start managing my stress, I will endanger myself with a massive health risk. I realized I have to work on the root cause of my problems, leading me to be constantly stressed, which was my over-scheduling problem.

Working hard does not necessarily make us happy. Japanese often suffer from having low life satisfaction. According to the “life satisfaction” index from the organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD), Japan ranked one of the lowest among the 33 other member countries in the organization. Only 30% of Japanese perceived themselves as healthy, which was much lower than the OECD average of 69% (para. 1 – 3). I was getting unhappy because I noticed I was not getting things done as effectively as I thought. Why Should I be able to accomplish more? I lacked energy due to health neglect.

Hard work is not necessarily productive, and I was starting to notice this problem. I tend to make more errors. It took me longer to complete a single task as I became unhealthier. According to Morikawa Masayuki, the vice president of the research institute of economy, trade, and industry (March 5, 2019), Japanese productivity is the lowest among G7 countries. Their productivity is two-thirds of the United States. He pointed out that the Japanese work too long hours (para. 1- 9).

I still think it is good to work; however, we must understand our limits. Otherwise, we will risk our physical and mental health. If we are not careful, we could be working hard on something but not being very productive.

Life is all about making choices. Since we have limited time, we must be selective with what we do. Greg Mckeown (2020), the author of the book, essentialism, says this, instead of doing gazillions of things, accomplish the genuinely vital things. We must exercise essentialism, which is not about getting more things done, but it is all about allocating your time and energy to work on what is considered essential (pp. 6). It is just like business owners or managers who allocate their available resources to generate more profits for their company.

We should also choose a single highlighted task for the day. The task we prioritize must also satisfy us by completing it. Knapp and Zeratsky (2018) called this the most important thing as one high-priority goal, improving your satisfaction and providing energy to complete the rest of the tasks. This single priority must be significant and represent what you want to do. We must focus on this task and eliminate any distractions. Finally, we must make time to recharge your brain. Make time to exercise, eat food, sleep, allocate time for reflection and social time so that you can renew your energy (p. 20).

I started to be more selective on my to-do list. Initially, I was worried that I was doing less, so I ended up with two lists, one for work and one for personal; however, I had too many total items to complete to maintain a balanced life.  Now I have only one list with six things, one of which is my highlight. Surprisingly, I feel much better with only six list items. When I work on my highlight, I shut myself off from any distractions. I often have classical music on because background music usually helps me focus on my task. I keep my body’s batteries charged by exercising, sleeping, talking with others, and eating good food. Of course, I still make bad choices which I usually noted at the end of the day. I usually know when I make a mistake because I feel less happy at the end of the day. It is ok to make mistakes because I will start a new day tomorrow. As Scarlett from Gone with the wind famously says, “I’ll think of it all tomorrow. At Tara. I can stand it then. … After all. Tomorrow is another day” (Mitchell, p. 1024). I will learn from what did not go well, but I try not to cry over the spilled milk. Ever since I became selective about what I do, I feel like I have gained control over my life with much greater energy.

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Losing Weight Challenge #3: Make a Peace with My Body

To improve my physical and mental condition, I decided to work on changing my habits. I started with 45 minutes of Zumba 5 times a week, and then I gradually added additional requirements such as sleeping, water intake, a short daily meditation, muscle training, and calorie restriction. I checked my weight every morning to monitor my progress.

This round, I started with reading a book, Intuitive eating, introduced in the course, “Designing Your Personal Weight Loss Plan” from Coursera. I have done four diets that failed. When the professor pointed out the triggers for emotional eating, I felt the need to find out the root cause of my problems. I wanted to make peace with my body. I also added Yoga to work as part of my muscle training, and I removed Ring fit adventure for now. I thought I could also work on my flexibility with Yoga.

Intuitive Eating

After reading the book “Intuitive Eating,” I changed my approach to dealing with my eating, and I started listening to my body. According to Tribole and Resch (2020), many people failed to maintain weight after dieting because they tend to overeat once they relax their control eating. The mere contemplation of restricting foods pushes you to crave the forbidden foods resulting in your cravings escalating until you cannot resist them. The trigger of losing control often starts for many because they are too focused on the outcome of their dieting. Upon quitting a diet, many of us ended up binge-eating and feeling guilty (pp.642-658). I felt like they just described my situation. The recent study established a motivational trait of regaining weight after strict dietary restraints as “Disinhibition” (Bellisle, 2008). Disinhibition can cause not only psychological damage but also increase the risks of hypertension and diabetes. In other words, repeatedly failing diets is mentally and physically unhealthy.

I had to think about what triggers me to lose control of my eating. I am always on a diet. I maintain my weight pretty well because I exercise regularly. When my husband became ill, I lost control of my eating. I could not think about anything other than my husband’s health condition at the time. I stopped exercising altogether. I guess I always have emotional eating problems, but I completely lost control of eating this time. Two years after, I managed to lose all the weight with running and calorie restriction. I lost control of eating again because I was too busy with my work. This time, I gained back about half of the lost weight over six months when I started working again. It was high time to look into the cause of disinhibition to fix it somehow.

I seem to fit the following two eater styles from the book: chaotic unconscious eater and unconscious emotional eater. I actively overscheduled my life. So, I usually gobble my meals whenever I have time. Sometimes, I work or read while eating to save time. I am also an unconscious emotional eater. I tend to overeat when I am anxious, stressed, or sad.

Instead of starving myself, I decided to develop trust with food again by honoring my hunger. In the beginning, I was unsure of the sense of fullness. So, I started eating slower so that I could listen to my body. I also stop multi-tasking while I eat. Instead, I focused more on flavors or textures of food while I am eating. Gradually, I began to recognize satiety. 

Now I can eat anything I want as long as I listen to the needs of my body. I ate foods I had previously forbidden. Suddenly, a cookie is no longer as attractive. I also recognize my body wants more vegetables. I tried some vegetable recipes. When I am satisfied with foods, I do not have to eat as much.

Yoga – 2 sets of Sun Salutation

I started two sets of Sun Saltation every morning. It will be better if I do some yoga because my body is inflexible. I was investigating YouTube or Prime Videos for yoga programs. Eventually, my husband suggested adding a few sets of Sun Saltation every morning to start. 

It was pretty hard at the beginning, and I had to do a modified version. My first modification was of Alligator Pose after the plank. I had to lower my knees to ease the weight from my triceps. My second modification was to take baby steps back to the forward fold (2) position as it was not possible to step one foot and then the other to the forward fold (2) position.

Sun Salutation Routine

Namaste Prayer -> Upward Salute -> Forward Fold -> Left Leg Lunge -> Plank -> Alligator Pose -> Staff Pose -> Cobra -> Downward Dog -> Right Leg Lunge -> Forward Fold (2) ->Gratitude

Since I hardly do muscle training, I had muscle aches from doing this baby yoga routine initially. After one week, my muscle aches ceased. I do not want to compromise my form, so I am still using a modified version.

Challenges

2nd COVID Vaccination

Planning my meal is crucial for losing weight; however, this did not work out as I planned. We held a small family gathering for my husband’s birthday. Since I knew that my husband would request a lasagna for the meal, I decided to restrict calories by 100-150 calories per day and add a 15-minutes exercise three days before the birthday party. Unfortunately, three days before the gathering, I became ill from the 2nd COIVD Vaccination. I had a slight fever, tiredness, and endometriosis symptoms. I could not exercise for two whole days, and I could not eat well. I ate a small piece of lasagna and a lemon cake. At least I was able to exercise mindful eating still. The day after the party, I felt better, and I was starving. So, I ate slowly until I gained satiety. 

Overscheduling Problems

I still forget to exercise intuitive eating when I get busy. I overate three times in 4 weeks, which still made me feel guilty. There is absolutely no reason to feel guilty about overeating. So, I calmed down, and I thought about what caused me to forget to practice intuitive eating. I was under time pressure on all these three days because I overscheduled. 

Knowing when to Stop Eating

I still failed to feel satiety from eating. I suspected that I am frequently stressed out because I tend to overschedule my day. When I am not sure whether I am full or not, I stop eating for fear of over-eating. 

Discussion

This round, I lost 2.6 lb. The biggest reason I lost less this time was figuring out how to trust my body. I exceeded the 1,500 calorie restriction a few times. It is all right. At least, I am working on the root cause of the actual problems.

The key lesson I learned from this round was to work on identifying the triggers that cause me to overeat. I started to journal a stress score in my Fitbit so that I could monitor my stress levels. From my observation, When I am stressed, I become anxious. So, I overeat—most of my stress comes from my packed schedule. To work on this problem, I need to work on my overscheduling problem next.

I am thinking of getting into Yoga more seriously because I am gaining mental and physical benefits. I did my yoga session every day, and my body was loving it. I feel that I am getting more flexible, and it is becoming easier to maintain each pose. At the end of each yoga session, I thank that I start a new day. This little ritual made me calmer and filled with energy.

References

Bellisle, F. (2009). [Assessing various aspects of the motivation to eat that can affect food intake and body weight control]. L’Encephale, 35(2), 182–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.encep.2008.03.009

Tribole& Resch (2020). Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach. [Kindle edition]. St. Martin’s Publishing Group.

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Motivation is a Myth – Learning From DIY Dollhouse Project

About a month ago, I decided to complete a crafting project because I wanted to test whether motivation follows action or not. I watched a YouTube video, “Why Motivation is a Myth,” by Ali Abdaal. According to Jeff Haden (as cited in Abdaal, Jul 1, 2020), motivation is a sugar rush that never lasts. Progress creates a spark; thus, we must act upon it (1:15 – 2:12). This video made me think deeply. I am goal-oriented and favor a checklist because I gain great satisfaction in completing items. I picked a crafting project for this test because I am not good at completing crafting projects. Excitement does not seem to impact the probability of finishing a crafting project that takes more than several hours unless it is a school project. I hypothesized that I might change the outcome if I treat it as a required task instead. So, I made sure that this project was always on my to-do list, and I made sure to spend 15-30 minutes each day.

My second objective was to discover some of the benefits of crafting. I used to work for a head office for long-term & retirement facilities. I remember that activity therapists created an activity curriculum for our clients. The government funds those types of activities in Canada for long-term care facilities. Valid reasons must exist for them as professional therapists develop these curricula. This little experiment will be an excellent opportunity to discover their benefits.

Finally, I wanted to try crafting a tiny house to see whether it can be in my hobby repertoire. The best way to find out is to try it out myself.

I purchased Countryside Notes, a CuteBee Dy Dollhouse Miniature Kit for under $10 from Amazon. According to the vendor, the assembly time is 6-12 hours. Since I have never done crafting like this, I expected my completion time to be 12 hours.

Assembly Time

Motivation is a Myth – learning from DIY Dollhouse Project.

About a month ago, I decided to complete a crafting project because I wanted to test whether motivation follows action or not. I watched a YouTube video, “Why Motivation is a Myth,” by Ali Abdaal. According to Jeff Haden (as cited in Abdaal, Jul 1, 2020), motivation is a sugar rush that never lasts. Progress creates a spark; thus, we must act upon it (1:15 – 2:12). This video made me think deeply. I am goal-oriented and favor a checklist because I gain great satisfaction in completing items. I picked a crafting project for this test because I am not good at completing crafting projects. Excitement does not seem to impact the probability of finishing a crafting project that takes more than several hours unless it is a school project. I hypothesized that I might change the outcome if I treat it as a required task instead. So, I made sure that this project was always on my to-do list, and I made sure to spend 15-30 minutes each day.

My second objective was to discover some of the benefits of crafting. I used to work for a head office for long-term & retirement facilities. I remember that activity therapists created an activity curriculum for our clients. The government funds those types of activities in Canada for long-term care facilities. Valid reasons must exist for them as professional therapists develop these curricula. This little experiment will be an excellent opportunity to discover their benefits.

Finally, I wanted to try crafting a tiny house to see whether it can be in my hobby repertoire. The best way to find out is to try it out myself.

I purchased Countryside Notes, a CuteBee Dy Dollhouse Miniature Kit for under $10 from Amazon. According to the vendor, the assembly time is 6-12 hours. Since I have never done crafting like this, I expected my completion time to be 12 hours.

Challenges

It was a challenging project for me because I did not know how to use the tools properly. I bought a toolkit set. At the start, I used my fingers to craft. Soon, I realized that using the tweezers made some tasks were easier to do. Each pair of tweezers seems to have its best-suited job. Once, I picked up a piece with tweezers pinching so hard that the part flew out and – luckily – landed on the table. I learned that I needed to grab them carefully. 

 Not all kits come with all of the items required for crafting. After I opened the kit, I realized it did not come with either glue or batteries. Initially, I was using regular glue that would not affix certain parts together. After investigation, I discovered I should be using silicone glue. The most challenging part was to determine which batteries to use for this dollhouse. It took me few days to realize LR44 indicated on the instruction was the size of the batteries to use for this dollhouse. 

A minuscule measurement error can result in running out of materials. I had to substitute my hemp twine for the roof and a piece of gauze for the chairs. I did not have enough yarn to cover the rooftop. The cloth piece for chairs was missing from the kit. It is not so bad though, as long as they look alike, you can substitute anything from the house.

Benefits

While I was doing this project, I noted some recognized benefits of crafting from my experiment. Additionally, I researched the benefits of tucking with crafting activities. 

Develop Planning Skills

Planning is an essential part of a project like this. The instruction that came with the kit was pretty good, but it would not be perfect. So, I had to figure out these missing puzzles. For example, the instruction never mentioned creating a hole for the lighting fixture. I realized this when I was examining the house for the wiring. It can take multiple days to build one piece of furniture as the furniture may have numerous parts that cannot be attached simultaneously. For example, it took me three separate days to construct the cooking oven because it was difficult to glue the shelving for the furniture and accessories on the same day without breaking other parts. So, I chose to make various pieces of furniture at the same time. I read multiple pages of instructions and wrote a plan. Numerous components of furniture were created simultaneously and completed at the same time.

Develop Problem Solving Skill

You develop problem-solving skills from crafting because there are always difficulties in assembling something so tiny and fragile. I had a problem keeping the ground steady due to the wires for the lights. I created a housing from cardboard to hold the wires together and stuck the cardboard housing directly to the tin can. I used toothpicks to hold the ground piece until it adhered to the tin can. The next day, I was utterly disappointed to find out it did not glue well. I needed a more appropriate glue to adhere to the pieces. After I got silicone glue, I glued a cardboard frame to mount the base to the tin can. This part took me three days—another problem I solved by using more appropriate tweezers. I did not even know which tweezers to use.

It’s a Mentally Stimulating Activity 

Crafting will prevent aging in the brain. The number of myelin decreases as we age, which prevents us from accepting new challenges later in life. The brain is plastic, and it will continue to grow at any age by learning new skills. People who continuously engage in learning new skills prevent their brain’s demyelination because they continually develop their neural pathways. When the neural pathways are hardened from more practice, the newly learned activity will become easier to perform. According to Krell-Roesch et al. (2017), older adults who performed the following five types of mentally stimulating activities such as reading books, playing games, craft activities, computer use, and social activities at least 1-2 times per week reduced the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Although their study did not conclude why that is the case; however, they assume that a particularly mentally stimulating activity helped decrease the risk of developing MCI (page. 7). It wasn’t easy to use the tools, but it got more manageable with practice. I assume I regrew some myelin by doing this project.

Learning Something New

I learned something new from this project. I’ve never built a dollhouse, so this project was an exciting experience for me. I found I could not use just any glue to attach wood pieces to the tin can. There is a valid reason why a tool kit contains multiple Tweezers because each has different usage. There are many sizes of watch batteries. I found YouTubers posted a video on building a tiny dollhouse like this. Some of them use a variety of scavenged household materials to create a dollhouse.

Discussion

Relying solely on motivation will not help us complete some tasks because motivation decreases over time. As Jeff Haden pointed (Tedx Talks, May 24, 2019), you may have a teacher to sustain your motivation when you are at school. This is not true when you do a project for yourself because no one will keep inspiring or motivating you throughout achieving the goal (0:35-0:59). I studied hard to obtain a professional designation for a steady income. I have completed various crafting projects because I got awards from winning the crafting contests. When you are doing a project for someone else, you also have some external rewards. When I want to do something for myself, like losing weight or crafting, my motivation decreases. I was so focused on the outcome but not its process so I did not even notice my improvements or progress. Eventually, I quit the project altogether. The accumulated failures made me feel like a loser and a quitter with enormous guilt for creating an additional trail of failures.

The crucial part of sustaining motivation is to understand how people get motivated. Jeff Haden explained (Tedx Talks, May 24, 2019), you must generate your own motivation. Once you find something you want to do for yourself, create a plan to complete it. You will need to put in the right effort. When you feel some improvement or progress, it generates dopamine in your brain. Then, your motivation will increase to continue with your project the next day. It is a cycle that helps you to complete a task (3:59 – 4:42). I got frustrated at some challenges I had during the project. However, I systematically approached each problem. Every time I overcame the obstacle, I could see some improvements. I was keen on such improvements because I was actively seeking the benefits of crafting. More importantly, I saw the progress throughout the project. Approximately around the 10th day, I was no longer relying on completing my checklist or the outcome. I was confident I would complete this project.  

So, motivation will follow by acting on it because you will generate motivation by seeing your progress or improvement. I obtained immense satisfaction by completing this project because I regained my capability to complete a project for myself. I understand why it is essential to focus on the process instead of focusing on the outcome. I saw the benefits of focusing on the process. I am now sure this is how I should approach projects for myself.

I am already planning to build another dollhouse. I saw many benefits from working on this project. Crafting provides people with great benefits because it forces us to think, plan, and practice. I learned many things from this project. Eventually, I wanted to create a miniature theme from our household scavenged materials. I consider dollhouse making to be in my hobby repertoire. 

References

Abdaal, Ali. (2020, July, 2020. Why Motivation is a Myth [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzAuvOr-YsM&ab_channel=AliAbdaal

Haden, Jeff (2019, May 24). The Most Successful Person in the World | Jeff Haden | TEDxPaloAlto [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLFqoofiiBg&ab_channel=TEDxTalks

Krell-Roesch, J., Vemuri, P., Pink, A., Roberts, R. O., Stokin, G. B., Mielke, M. M., Christianson, T. J. H., Knopman, D. S., Petersen, R. C., Kremers, W. K., &Geda, Y. E. (2017). Association Between Mentally Stimulating Activities in Late Life and the Outcome of Incident Mild Cognitive Impairment, With an Analysis of the APOE ε4 Genotype. JAMA Neurology, 74(3), 332. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2016.3822

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Procrastinating? Sometimes, It Is Better To Act On the Tasks

We had a carpeted storage room. The storage room has a light, and it was good size room. To make the space more usable, we decided to create shelving units. We also decided to remove the carpet and install a hardwood floor. I am a big fan of the YouTuber April Wilkerson. She has filmed so many DIY projects and uploaded them to her Channel. I want to learn how to do woodworking or carpentry like her, and this project was an excellent project to start. I was initially excited by imagining completing the project ourselves.

It took several months to start the project because I was procrastinating. I was hesitant to start the project because I felt anxious about starting. I was not ready for this task at all. I was so scared that I am not comfortable with the job. The last time I worked on flooring was a decade ago. So doing this project itself feels very risky because we might screw up the renovation. So, I sat with the idea for a long time without doing anything about it. Murray (2018) pointed out many of us procrastinate for various reasons, and some fit my situation.

  • Fear of the unknown
  • Fear of making mistakes
  • Wanting everything to be perfect or completely ready first
  • Fear of taking risks
  • Tasks seem too hard

A little procrastination is merely a peccadillo because it can damage us exponentially. Steel (as cited in Rice et al., 2012) studied the level of performance and mood outcomes resulting from procrastination. Steel concluded that procrastination could relieve anxiety only temporarily. Yet, the participants reported negative moods following procrastination (p. 3). The primary source of my distress was the guilt of delaying the project. The psychological damage impacted my mood; thus, it started affecting the performances of other activities. 

Since procrastination can harm us both mentally and physically, why do we procrastinate? I guess just like Steel pointed at (as cited in Rice et al., 2012), it makes us feel better. The problem is the effect is only temporary (p. 3). It is like moving the pile of garbage from one corner of the room to the other corner of the room. The garbage stays and continuously torments me until I remove them. Rice et al. (2012) also concluded perfectionists tend to procrastinate. Procrastination correlates with poor health performance due to psychological distress resulting from procrastination (p. 12).

Procrastination prevents us from growing because it promotes stagnation in our growth. In the modern, rapidly shifting era, we need to acquire skills to deal with new challenges to survive. Murray (2018) said we don’t even see the reason for it as they hide very well. Procrastinating conflicts with our rapidly changing external world just like Homo sapiens were engaging complex planning 100,000 years ago, enabling them to evolve. At the same time, the Neanderthals were resistant to go out into the cold from their comfortable cave (para. 9). Procrastinating is one way for us to conserve energy, but on the other hand, we must start working on more complex tasks to evolve with our rapidly shifting eras.

I gained no benefits from this procrastination. It was pretty uncomfortable sitting with a non-progressed project. I remembered reading Brian Tracy’s “Eat That Frog,” Tracy (2001) recommends eating the ugliest frog first thing in the morning to be productive if you must eat one. So, I decided to deal with my frog. 

To overcome my procrastination, I did list the possible challenges from this project to deal with them one by one.

  1. Can I Install a hardwood floor by myself? It has been a long time since I did the hardwood floor installation last time. Since this was the first experience for my husband to install a hardwood floor or a shelving unit, I will be leading this project.
  2. Can I build a strong shelving unit for our storage room? I was unsure whether the method I wanted to use will work for this space.
  3. Which tools do I need to buy?
  4. How long will this project take?
  5. How much will this project costs?
  6. When can I start this project? I will not start this project until October as I was leading a large project at work.

By looking at the list of my challenges, I can overcome these obstacles with some researches. Instead of doing everything at once, do section by section. The project can be broken into two main tasks. 

  1. Installation of the hardwood floor
    1. Installation of the hardwood floor
    2. Installation of the Baseboards
  2.  Installation of the shelving Units
    1. Installation of Shelving supports
    2. Installation of Shelving units
    3. Paint shelving units

I could deal with the root of my anxiety by researching how to complete the project. So, I researched YouTube channels and other blog posts on installing hardwood flooring, baseboards, and shelving units. I decided to use engineered flooring because it seems easier. We bought the hardwood flooring from Home Depot online. When I was researching, I observed the tools each YouTuber was using. We must get a few tools such as a Miter saw a jigsaw, a level, a Pry Bar, Spacers, and a tapping block. A miter saw can be expensive, but we can use it for other projects. 

We decided that the best time to start the project was Columbus day since I knew I would be busy until the last day of September. We purchased tools and materials in small increments over four months until the starting day. We still had four months until the project starting day. We have a compact passenger car, so it was impossible to purchase everything at once. Unexpectedly, having a tiny car created more challenges than any other source. Thanks to my husband’s surfeit of packing skill, we managed to carry all tools and materials we purchased. Later, I found out that Home Depot rents out a truck and will consider renting it for future projects.

Initially, I estimated we would complete this project by the end of Thanksgiving day; however, it took longer due to my stomach problems. We completed the project by the end of last year. The outcome was better than what we had originally thought, even though it was far from perfect. Since we took a long time planning and purchasing materials and tools, it cost us approximately $150 less than I budgeted. We may not have a perfect storage room, but it is functional. The important thing is that I regained my confidence, but I finally managed to remove my psychological distress. I gained satisfaction from completing the project ourselves.

We already have another plan for home renovation. Since neither of us is a professional renovator, it will be another challenge for us. But, that will be another chance to learn something new.

New Hardwood Flooring in the Storage Room
Used Wall Mounting Technique for Pantry Shelving
Completed Pantry Shelving

References

Tracy, Brian (2001), Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, Errett-Koehler.

Murray, John. (2018). Start now, get perfect later: how to make smarter, faster & bigger decisions & banish procrastination. [Skillsoft version] Available from <https://roberthalf.skillport.com/skillportfe/main.action?assetid=149423>

Rice, K. G., Richardson, C. M. E., & Clark, D. (2012). Perfectionism, procrastination, and psychological distress. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 59(2), 288–302.

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This is How I learned How to Read in English

I read books a lot to the point one could call me a bookworm, but I was not always like this. When I came to Canada, I could not read books in English. I always liked reading from my childhood. Reading is one of my favorite way of passing the time, so I often stayed in my parent’s library room and read books. After moving to North America, I felt there was an empty hole growing me. I was so depressed that I visited the doctor. Initially, my doctor thought I became depressed due to rapid environmental changes. It was not like I was always depressed like this. It is not uncommon for a foreigner to become homesick and depressed. One day, we were talking about what activities I enjoy. I told her that I love going to places, experiencing new things, discussing an exciting subject with people, playing the piano, then reading. When I was talking about piano and reading, I started to cry. I realized that I substantially lost reading time. That day, I determined to learn to read in English. I began to read every day. Surprisingly, learning to read English books worked because I no longer felt melancholy.

I think most people can learn to read in a Foreign language at some level. Japanese students study English for six years. We aimed at approximately 7-8th grade level English after high school. There may be some natural aptitude for acquiring foreign languages, but people tend to develop foreign language skills in extreme situations. Later, I met some international students who had recently arrived in Canada. They read English books very well. There was a common trait among them. They seem to put themselves in an environment that they read English books before visiting Canada. Acquiring foreign languages can be done by adding little habits and tricks you can do every day.

A Habit of Checking Unknown Words

It is essential to look up the word you do not know. I do not always memorize the words, but you will eventually start to know them. I always look up unknown words, so I used to carry around a dictionary with me all the time. It was heavy, so I bought a tiny pocket-size Oxford dictionary to carry around. Since it was a pocket-sized dictionary, it contains fewer words with more simple definitions to understand than a full-sized one. So I ended up with few words I did not understand very well. This process can slow your reading, but it helped me gain vocabulary. Don’t overwhelm yourself, though. Some reading devices such as Kindle have a dictionary function. Now I read most of my books on Kindle because it is convenient. I downloaded an oxford dictionary onto my Kindle. Now I can highlight the word I want to look up with my finger, and Kindle will bring up the definition from the oxford dictionary. The process of looking up words is no longer a pain since I started using Kindle.

A Habit of Reading Every Day

Reading, in general, helps you to gain more vocabulary and reading skills. I felt the process of input and analysis becomes more efficient over time. The more books you read, the faster the reading becomes. I stopped voicing while I read in my early elementary years. It took me a little longer in English because I was constantly translating in Japanese first. Eventually, I stopped translating into Japanese. At this level, you are no longer thinking in your native tongue while you are reading. Then, naturally, you also stop voicing in your head.

Read a Book or Articles You are Familiar with

Read Something You Already Know or Materials that Interest you greatly. I started reading stories that I read in Japanese a long time ago. It is even better if you are interested in the material. Depending on your native tongue, the English can be drastically different. At least it was for me as English letters are quite other from Japanese letters. It can be overwhelming. I started reading something like “The Little House in the Prairies,” “Anne of the Green Gables,” or “Daddy-Long-Legs.” Something I read when I was young and loved reading.

It does not have to be a book either. I know a lady who loves Japanese manga so much that she learned Japanese by reading Japanese Mangas. When I was playing the League of Legends, I saw foreign people playing on the American Server. Some of them learned not only to read English from the game but also communicating in English. People tend to forget the pain of learning when they do something they want to learn. During my 1st through 3rd years in elementary school, we did not have access to the school library. Instead, we got 40-50 books in the classroom. Those books rotated every month or so. Not every kid was interested in reading. So my teacher in early elementary school would read a book and explained the book’s background to us. The book would no longer be available for few weeks because even kids who did not even touch a single book wanted to read the book. My second-grade teacher was such a good book reader. I bet she piqued many children’s interest in reading. It seems the sense of familiarity and interests removes obstacles to learning new.

You can use other media to gain familiarity. There will always be books that you want to read, but you have never read a book. Some books turned into movies. You can gain familiarity by watching a movie before reading the book. I used this technique for reading “Shogun” or “Gone with the Wind.” All Japanese school students must study ancient Chinese or ancient Japanese literature as a part of a Japanese class. I read comics books or books written in the modern language before I read in ancient languages. There is nothing wrong with those reading materials. The problem was the content of the sentence might transform into something different when you combine the translation of too many words with multiple meanings. Creating a sentence becomes building a puzzle from many pieces. Sometimes, this process does not work smoothly, and the sentence becomes a Frankenstein or Chimera. But, reading manga or movies of the material ahead of time can remove these problems as you can guess the correct meaning much easier since you understand the context.

Start With Books or Articles with Fewer Words

I started reading short stories for children because books written for adults were too challenging for me to read. I always love reading books written by Hemingway, E.M.Forster, or Tolstoy. At first, I started reading Anna Karenina, and I had to stop. It was too long; therefore, the content did not get into my head even after reading the book in Japanese. The reading experience was nothing but frustration. The first English book I read was “Anne of the Green Gables.” I was in Canada, and it was convenient. I even went the Prince Edward Island after I completed reading the books.

Summarizing What You Read 

Summarizing what I read helped me understand the topic better and improved my English reading comprehension skills. According to Mason and Krashen (1997), the Japanese students who summarized the English books after reading improved their English more than students who did not (p. 91). When I find an exciting part of a book, I highlight and add notes. I also try to summarize the point in my own words. Kindle is also convenient for highlighting and adding notes. Those notes are lovely as I can go through notes after reading. If I could not understand my notes, I reread the section and rewrite my notes. Since you cannot rephrase something you cannot understand, this will exercise active reading. Additionally, you also learn to articulate what you read differently, enabling you to learn English at a higher level.

The Day You Meet the Book

I read Helen Keller felt like she was struck by a bolt of lightning when she started to understand a word means something. One day, I truly enjoyed reading English Books. I still remember completing a book, “The Watcher” from Dean Koontz, within several hours. The book was so engaging that the book consumed me. I even forgot I was reading in English. Since that day, I no longer felt overwhelmed by any books I read. 

Learning to read a foreign language can be a slow process, but I have benefited from this skill. I can read many books written in English. Many books are translated into English before any other language. Many major academic papers are also published in English. It helps me when I need to research for work or casual writing. 

It is possible to learn to read in a Foreign language. Learning to read a foreign language can be accomplished by adding a few small reading habits and easy materials you are familiar with or interested in. Look up words and summarize what you read. The process becomes less painful if you use Kindle. As long as you must maintain the habit, you will become a good English Reader.

Reference

Mason, B., & Krashen, S. (1997). Extensive reading in English as a foreign language. System, 25(1), 91–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(96)00063-2

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Losing Weight Challenge #2: Struggling with Antibiotics Effects and Eating Out

Mill Creek Park Greenway, TN

Background

To improve my physical and mental condition, I decided to work on changing my habits for good. Initially, I started with only 45 minutes of Zumba 5 days per week with no food or calorie restrictions. For monitoring purposes, I did weigh almost every day, first thing in the morning. Then, I gradually added minor changes to my daily life. I started a sleep goal of 8 hours per night after the 1st week. My goal is to be in bed by 9:30 pm, hoping to be asleep by 10:00 pm every day. At approximately the same time, I introduced a 2-minute meditation before going to bed. I lost 3.7 lb. from this 4-week schedule. 

Unfortunately, two days before ending this round, I had to start taking antibiotics for a day of surgery. I was still exercising a day before surgery, but I decided to push out the starting day for the 2nd round of the 4-week challenge for five days. Thanks to my lifestyle change, antibiotics and day surgery did not cause me to gain weight five months ago.

The Effects of Antibiotics

I had to take antibiotics for ten days for this surgery. I noticed that I had significant decreases in the amount of weight lost per day. For example, I lost only 0.1lb for the first 5days of the 1st week despite the exercise increase. It was not surprising since antibiotics can kill good microbes along with unwanted microbes. According to Cox et al. (2014), taking antibiotics can alter the metabolism of the host. A study found that that metabolic alteration occurred in mice taking a low-doses of penicillin. Mice taking a low dose of penicillin from youth had sustained effects on the body compositions. Low-dose penicillin strengthens the negative impact of high-fat diet-induced obesity because it disrupted the microbiota of mice (p. 705). I have been eating more fermented foods and taking some probiotics. I am not sure how long it will take me to regain all the microbes I lost.

While I was in better shape than the last operation several months ago, I also experienced difficulties falling asleep. 

Loss of sleep due to antibiotics

I had a sleep problem despite the antibiotics not listing Insomnia as a side effect. The sleeping problem, which started a few days after taking antibiotics, lasted about two weeks. I began to see issues arising from not sleeping well. For example, I was not performing well in the Zumba game. I felt tired when I woke up with inadequate energy. I struggled in completing my daily to-do list. I craved pasta and rice.

Eating Out

We took out food from a restaurant nearby our house because we just completed a project in the front yard. Alas, I gained just over 2.5lb from the Gyro platter. It may be a little too salty, but I had to drink much more water to get rid of the extra salt I introduced to my body. Although the biggest problem was not because I ate the Gyro platter, I kept eating even though I was already feeling full in the middle of it. There is nothing wrong with eating out or eating the delicious gyro platter. Instead, I need to think about why I kept eating it.

It took me approximately nine days to get rid of most of the weight. I noticed all this effect because I measured my weight every day. I realized how essential to weigh myself so that I can see the pattern of my weight movement. I am not that proud of this incident; however, I learned something from this incident. I need to listen to my body.

My struggle in losing weight continues until the mid-week of the second week. I was kind of desperate since I gained weight from the Gyro platter I ate. I start losing weight again. It sucked to lose my good gut microbes to die out from antibiotics, but so did the harmful microbes, too. I need to regain good microbes and nurture them by eating prebiotics such as pistachios and cabbages. When I talk like this, my husband makes a joke that I am talking about my gut microbes as if I have pets. 

For the 2nd round, I planned to add more aerobics time, and I take a course, “Designing Your Personal Weight Loss Plan,” from Coursera during this round. Since I took the first few weeks of the course, I knew this course was worth taking. I started taking this course in 2020, but I stopped after a few weeks due to priority changes. This time, I somehow felt I needed to prioritize taking this course because I felt the need for some guidance from a professional. Some content of this course is outdated. For example, the recommended tools for food journaling or planning meals are no longer usable. However, there were several tips, articles, and good books suggested in the classes. You can take it free from Coursera, and I recommend it.

There is a lot more content in this course, but I have summarized some things that inspired me:

  • Exercising: You will need to exercise at least 150 active minutes per week to lose weight. You can double count high-intensity exercise minutes. Some watches such as Fitbit can count active minutes.
  • Planning for Eating Out: When you plan to eat out or party, you can reduce calories 100-150 calories per day three days before eating out or adding 10-15 minutes of additional exercise. You can also take a smaller portion at the party so that you do not overeat.
  • Monitoring: Monitoring weight, calorie intake, and calorie output are essential because we can see the pattern in our weight movement. We must continue monitoring these data. According to Thomas et al. (2014), those who maintained the behavioral changes could sustain their weight loss, while many others gain back weight after the weight loss program (pp. 17-18). 
  • Mindful Eating: Instead of depriving you of eating something you like, eat mindfully. According to Dahl (May 16, 2014), you will crave more by trying to suppress eating. The research shows that parents who enforce stringent eating rules tend to become overweight because they eat more when they can (para. 10). Instead, eat anything you want to eat, but eat mindfully.

With a bit of professional guidance, I made some changes in my strategies for losing weight. I added all conditions from the first challenges. Still, I implemented other habits: a calorie intake restriction of 1,500 calories per day, food journaling, and ring-fit adventure (switch game) as a tool for muscle exercise. I added a 60-minute Zumba workout for the 2nd and 3rd week.

Summary of My Tactics

  • 45 Minutes of Zumba 5 times a day 
  • Weighing every day
  • Aiming for an 8-hour sleep
  • Drinking at least 80 oz of water per day 
  • 2 minutes of meditation per day

Added:

  • Food restriction 1,500 calories per day
  • One additional session of 45 minutes of Zumba per week
  • One 60-minute of Zumba on 2nd and 3rd weekends started ring fit adventure one mission per day for three days per week.
  • Food Journaling

I should be mindful of increasing the amount of exercise. Since I was doing Zumba every day, I started to develop leg pain. I took a day off from the Zumba session. Instead, my husband and I went for a nice long walk at a nearby park. The air was fresh, and I smelled the scent of nature. Listening to birds singing or trees swaying in the wind made me feel comfortable and relaxed. I slept so well that night.

I started losing weight again at the beginning of the 2nd week. It took me over a week to lose the 2.5 lbs. I just gained from the Gyro Platter, but by the end of the 4th week, I lost an additional 2.5 lb. I lost 2.3 lb. of fat, and I gained 0.2 lb. of muscle mass. Although I lost 5 lbs. in total, 2.5 lb. out of 5 lb. was the weight I regained. The result is not as exciting, but I lost weight. I am sure I can do better next time. 

I am considering reading a book, “Mindful Eating,” which was introduced by the Coursera course I took. I am considering implementing some Yoga next challenge. I also want to explore parks around Nashville going forward. The important thing is making small changes that I can sustain. That is what the Japanese believe as a Kaizen.

References

Cox, L. M., Yamanishi, S., Sohn, J., Alekseyenko, A. V., Leung, J. M., Cho, I., Kim, S. G., Li, H., Gao, Z., Mahana, D., Zárate Rodriguez, J. G., Rogers, A. B., Robine, N., Loke, P., & Blaser, M. J. (2014). Altering the Intestinal Microbiota during a Critical Developmental Window Has Lasting Metabolic Consequences. Cell, 158(4), 705–721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2014.05.052

Dahl, M. (2014, May 16). A Non-Diet Diet: The Case for Eating Whatever You Want. The Cut. https://www.thecut.com/2014/05/non-diet-diet.html

Thomas, J. G., Bond, D. S., Phelan, S., Hill, J. O., & Wing, R. R. (2014). Weight-Loss Maintenance for 10 Years in the National Weight Control Registry. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 46(1), 17–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2013.08.019

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Take it Slow: Struggles of Picking up Piano After a Long Time Not Playing the Piano

In 2017, my parents-in-law and husband gifted me a piano because I had been sad about my broken keyboard. I had played the piano since I was three years old. I stopped practicing the piano when I moved to Canada. I was traveling for work, and I had simply other priorities. Although, I had a keyboard. As the keyboard was not full size, I could not play certain piano pieces. Playing the keyboard was so different from playing the piano. The keyboard broke ten years ago, and I stopped playing the piano entirely. With great excitement, I opened a box of my piano books that I brought from Japan and Canada as soon as the piano delivery guys left our house.

Struggles

I tried playing some piano pieces I used to play when I was young. I noticed some problems, which made me think that I could not play these piano pieces. 

I remember the notes, but I lost endurance. For example, I tried to play Beethoven’s piano sonata, No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2, commonly known as Moonlight Sonata. I could not play the third movement in one go because I had no endurance. I was so tired after 2-3 pages into the part, and I could not move my fingers anymore.

I tried to play Partita #2 from Bach. I could not play a trill with my left 4th and 5th fingers’ at the 5th measure of the sinfonia. I could not perform the trill because I could not move my 4th and 5th left-hand fingers independently from the rest of my fingers. Then, I tried to play one of Bach’s sinfonia, the three-part inventions. I still felt that I did not have complete control of all my fingers. With frustration, I told my husband Bach would cry if he heard how I play his music. He laughed.

My music seems to have lost dynamics. A piece of music without dynamic is like listening to static sounds from an analog television when there is no transmission. I played the Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, which is a short waltz from Chopin. The first section of the music is fast and very lively. I remember that my Piano teacher told me Chopin composed from seeing a puppy chasing after his tail. I put all my concentration on the movement of the fingers; I could not focus on the dynamic of the music. Therefore, instead of a livery puppy chasing after his tail, it was a picture of a puppy standing still motionless.

I will be lying if I said I was ok with this. I was utterly disappointed with my piano playing initially. But it is not all bad. I still remember some of the music. I need to work on my finger movement. I need to drop few levels, and I rebuild my skill level slowly. After all, I have all the time to practice piano as long as I don’t stop. Well, I had some initial disappointment with my piano playing, but I had no desire to quit relearning piano. I was very adamant about some of the music I wanted to play in the future.

I think anyone can learn to play piano at a later age if they put their minds to it. It can take longer if you pick up the piano piece with much more significant difficulty than your current abilities. Some people managed to do that, too. Recently, I watched a YouTube about a Japanese 52-year-old fisherman who started to play Liszt’s La Campanella (NHK, 2028, July 28). The crazy thing about this was that he did not even know how to read any musical score. He practiced the piano piece for 8 hours every day for seven years. To commit yourself to that level of dedication, you should possess a particular personality. You should not feel bad for not being able to put the story of extraordinary commitment. His case is rare. Although, anyone can play the piano. It would be best if you took it slowly and tactically. If you are adamant about getting into the piano as I did, you need to do the following: (1) assesses your personality; (2) Define your goals; (3) build the tactic; (4) identify potential obstacles and how to overcome the obstacles; and finally, you must understand that the process to achieve goals can be a long process.

Assessing Your Personality

It is crucial to assess your personality before building your goals or tactics. Everyone is different. Just like the Japanese fisherman, some can work toward a significant challenge despite skill gaps. I do not have that type of personality; therefore, I had to build and approach my goals differently. I like my plans to be short-term and just slightly beyond my current skill. I learned this technique from reading Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book, Flow. Csikszentmihalyi (1990) explains that we must set our goals within our reach. If your goal is too far beyond your reach, you grow resentful or resign from achieving the goals. The research suggests most of us struggle with the vicious cycles of failures, leading to dissatisfaction. Unless you are in good condition, struggling to meet your basic human needs, we desire a sense of well-being. People gain satisfaction from achieving even partial goals, which leads to improving our quality of life. Why should we lower our quality of life? (pp. 8-10). This book was an eye-opener for me. I could make some big goals in the long run, but I make small goals to achieve larger goals. I feel fabulous even if the goal achieved is insignificant compared to the larger goals I created. I am making some progress toward my larger goals.

Overcoming the Rocks

Endurance

In 2017, I noticed I felt some muscle pains from playing the piano. I also noticed I felt discomfort from playing the piano for hours. Since I was not sure how much practice I could do, I took it very slowly. I started to practice whenever I had time between my other tasks. I began with practicing for only a few minutes, but I played the piano every day. I started losing track of my time during each practice. I noticed I was practicing for over one hour, and I did not even realize it. Playing piano was no longer painful.

Difficulty Level

I must drop the level of difficulty. Practicing piano music I played when I was young helps me to remember some of my problems. I dropped to Royal Conservatory level 8. I bought Royal Conservatory level 8books from Amazon. At least, I can still sight-read most of the songs at this level. It takes me approximately two weeks to memorize a 2-3 page piece. I found out my capacity by playing random piano pieces in 2017.

Finger Exercise

It took few years, but I felt ready to take my piano to the next level, which involved practicing piano the way my piano teacher showed me. I decided to work on my fingers’ agility, flexibility, strength, and endurance to fix my problems. Hanon is an excellent material to work on my stiff 4th and 5th fingers. I am currently using Hanon, Czerny, and Dohnanyi. Czerny is more melodic than Hanon, and I like it better for that reason. Dohnanyi is a good finger exercise. I struggled with playing Dohnanyi. I remember it was difficult when I was a child. I must put a lot of conscious effort into moving my fingers, even on simple exercises. The exercises wear me out considerably, and it can be pretty frustrating. My brain hardwires the movement. Eventually, my fingers will start to move. Dohnanyi teaches me how to play the piano properly.

Fear of many Flats and Sharps

I felt an illogical discomfort every time I play music with 4-5 flats or sharps, which I always had. When I was young, I got overwhelmed by music written in E major or C-sharp minor. To get rid of m illogical fear, my piano teacher made me practice Hanon no 1 to 20 in E major and C sharp repeatedly. I use the Brown Scale Book to practice scales, chords, and arpeggios, so I do not have to do any transposition of notes.

Use of Metronome to Start Slow

I use a metronome a lot. When I try to play faster than I comfortably can, I skip notes or hit the key with the wrong finger. So, I start slowly using metronome using correct fingering and dynamics until 1 or 2 levels above the recommended speed of the music. I practice a little section at a time because some areas require more attention than others.

Pedal Use

I do not use the pedal until I can play the music faster than its desired speed. Pedal-use masks my errors if I start using it in an earlier state. Then, I will learn the song improperly. It can be challenging to undo when you learned once. Sometimes these bad habits are persistent. When I was relearning inventions, I noticed the bad habits I developed in my teens. I remember my piano teacher pointing out those habits.

Compromise

Finally, I have to make a compromise regarding how much time I can spend practicing piano. I have full-time work. I have a family. There are other things I need to do besides playing the piano, which was my most significant obstacle to practicing piano. Fortunately, I live in an environment where I can play the piano early or late. I will jump on whenever I can make time. When I have only 30 minutes to play, I focus on the sections I need to learn after a bit of warm-up. It gets harder during weekdays, but I practice piano at least a little every day, so I do not feel guilty.

My Optimism & Future Playing List

I am currently relearning Bach’s 15 two-part inventions. I am relearning in the orders I once learned. I started mid-February this year, and I have memorized five as of the beginning of April. I expect it will take more time to relearn the 11th, 12th, and 15th inventions. At this level, I can insert some Sinfonias. My current goal is to complete the book by this fall. I am making progress with my practice slowly, but I do not mind at all. As long as I live and I have mobility, I can play the piano. The most important part is to embrace my progress, and I genuinely enjoy playing the piano again.

References

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. (1990). Flow. [Kindle edition]. HarperCollins e-books.

NHK. (2020, July 28), Ohayonihon [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7PoiaMsJ1s&ab_channel=NHK

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How to Make an Exercising Habit into a Long Term Commitment

There is an exercise that I always do, which is a Zumba game on my Switch Consol. Whenever I play this game, I want to keep doing it because I enjoy it. There is something I want to confess. I was never able to sustain my exercise habit in the past. I just did it because my parents wanted me to be active or to lose weight. So my exercise streaks come and go.

Sometimes, there are things we seem to fail at sustaining as our habits. Exercise is a common one. It is almost as if my brain is refusing to accept that I must exercise every day. Well, I thought I was too busy to exercise, but that was not entirely true. I was avoiding committing to regular exercise. It was much easier for me to see exercise as a temporary solution to make myself healthy or lose weight. I somehow managed to believe that I want to read or to learn other things instead of exercising. 

First, I thought easy access is one of the keys for me to getting into exercising habits. It is pretty interesting how the options for exercise have changed, and it is more accessible. My mother used to go to a regular aerobics class in a local community center when I was a kid. Now, there were many ways to get them Online such as YouTube or Amazon Prime. We can even do it from a console as one of a game.

Second, extreme weather can deter me from exercise. Running was another option for me when I was living in Canada or living on the west coast. Since I moved to Nashville, I realized that extreme weather could discourage me from running. I do not enjoy running in hot, humid weather. The last time I ran, I had no choice but to run in the early morning to avoid heat. Since it was hard to wake up early, this plan did not go well.

Finally, I also thought the exercise program must be something I enjoy doing. There is one exercise I keep coming back to even after I stop for a while. That was Zumba. I have first introduced to Zumba approximately 12-13 years ago from now. I like aerobics exercise, but I am not good at dancing. I was worried because I might feel embarrassed by dancing poorly. While I was a little embarrassed, I tried a Zumba class out of curiosity. The dance routine I like the most is the Zumba dance with Shakira’s Waka Waka. I loved the song, and I loved the dance Routine. Because of my work schedule, I could only attend few classes per week. I searched for Zumba on YouTube, and I was practicing the dance Routine when I missed the class. 

I decided to start Zumba again on my Switch Console because it seems to mitigate obstacles. Initially, getting a console was a reward for completing a university graduate program. Unfortunately, I missed purchasing it entirely since there was no console available at the store due to COVID-19. After completing one of my most significant projects at work, I still got the console at a little higher price than the retail price. I want to get back to exercise, and I want to do the exercise with something I will enjoy the most.

So we got the console. As soon as I downloaded Zumba, I tried a 30-minutes class. My first day of Zumba with my console did not sound like I initially thought since some Zumba songs were too intense for my cardio level. To complete the 30-minute Zumba Routines. I had to take a break after 15 minutes. I tried the next day, the same thing happened, but I could complete more songs from the same class. I finished off an entire 30-minute class in one go by the 4th day, and I accomplished a whole 30-minutes course by the beginning of the 3rd week. There was no problem in achieving a 60-minutes class by the end of the 3rd month. Cardio improves much faster than strength. 

I saw an immediate improvement in my resting heart rate. Due to lack of exercise and poor life habits, my resting heart rate was higher than it had formerly been and made me feel uneasy. There have been some gradual improvements in my sleep quality and energy level. Completing a class is an achievement that made me feel good. 

Learning dance and performance have positive impacts on our brain; according to Edwards (n.d.), learning and performing dance use many brain regions, including the motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. These brain regions are responsible for planning, executing voluntary movements, eye-hand coordination, and smoothly coordinating bodily motions (para. 3). Edwards (n.d.) also reported that learning and performing dance also improve mental health and our cognitive skills such as decision making and visual recognition (para. 6).

It has been several months since I started exercising with Zumba. I manage to do regular exercise with my busy schedule. I have not felt that my priority set for training should be lower than other activities because I started seeing other benefits than losing weight and lowering my heart rate. After several months of exercise, my job performance increased. Learning queries or new tax laws seemed much easier than before. I seem to memorize piano music much faster. In the book “SPARK,” Ratey & Hagerman (January 2008) suggested that exercise improves learning in multiple levels because it improves alertness, motivation, preparing nerve cells for learning, and developing new nerve cells (p. 53).

My real motivation for getting into exercise was because I was suffering from a leaky stomach problem. After investigating, I see exercise can be more than a temporary solution to my concerns, and I can also get so many additional benefits in the long term. So I pick the activities that can avoid many possible obstacles. I decided on the exercise program I enjoy. Even though I enjoy doing Zumba, I still could not complete an entire Zumba class when I started. I had to start slowly. I keep doing it because I enjoy doing so. Now I can complete a 60-minutes game. Several months have passed, and I feel I gained so many benefits other than losing weight from the exercise.

References

Edwards, S. (n.d.). Dancing and the Brain. Retrieved April 6, 2021, from https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publications-archive/brain/dancing-brain

Ratey, J., & Hagerman E. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain [Kindle Edition]. Hachette Book Group.

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The Reasons Why I Started Making Homemade Yogurt

I have a story that starts after a few weeks after the last day of taking antibiotics. I woke up in the middle of the night from stomach pain. I had been suffering from a leaky stomach problem from antibiotics for days. Since I do not usually take medication, my stomach got surprised by the sudden intruders. The pain the night was so bad that I could not sleep at all the rest of the night. I was so sick until the following morning that I ended up taking a sick day the next day. That was my first sick day in the last ten years. 

Deep in my heart, I do know that this was caused by more than just antibiotics because I was having mild symptoms of a leaky stomach for the last few months. I hypothesized that my stomach problem is due to my recent poor lifestyle. 

To find a lasting solution, I started identifying any unpleasant symptoms I have. Then, I was trying to identify the possible root cause of the symptoms. Then, I grouped any symptoms that appear to share the same root course. For example, I have not had any single days off for five months due to two major work projects I was leading. Then, I was trying to remember the last time I exercised. I hardly exercised for the previous five months because I made many excuses to keep myself from exercising. Mental exhaustion and the lack of exercise, of course, prevented me from falling asleep. I felt tired even if I slept long hours. We do not eat out, but I tended to cook comfort foods with more carbohydrates and fat to compensate for my lack of energy and stress. These poor lifestyle habits were very detrimental to me. It was high time to look into fixing the problems. 

Taking a supplement was the easiest solution for me to fix my leaky gut problem. According to Victor (February 2021), it is common for people to suffer from diarrhea, and it is possible to treat the symptoms of diarrhea caused by antibiotics. One study suggested that taking probiotics reduces diarrhea caused by antibiotics by 42%. Taking probiotics reduces diarrhea duration by an average of 25 hours (p. 39). Probiotics provide microorganisms called gut flora. Gut flora is vital for our body because it manufactures vitamins B12 and K. Gut flora fiber from short-chain fats and feeds our gut. The short-chain fats boost our immune systems.

Taking supplements seemed to be working; however, I discovered that not all probiotics supplements are effective as the capsule’s microorganism may no longer be alive. But taking supplements is not the only way to obtain probiotics for the guts. There are multiple traditional ways to obtain probiotics by eating fermented foods. Victor (2021) suggested that we can get probiotics from bacterially fermented foods such as Yogurt, Kombucha, Kimchi, and sauerkraut (pp. 5-6).

I have always been interested in fermented foods. About three years ago, I took a fermentation workshop. After the workshop, I started to make Kombucha. We have been making it since the fermentation workshop. It worked very well for my husband’s stomach problems and regulated his bowel movements. I sometimes make Kimchi or Japanese pickles, but I do not do it as often as I would like to. The biggest reason was my husband suffered from high blood pressure. I eat Natto, fermented beans, but I am not sure about making Natto at home as it smells terrible. Yogurt, on the other hand, I can easily make using our instant pot. 

Yogurt is fantastic food. Yogurt with active culture helps with some gastrointestinal conditions. Elaine (n.d.) reported that yogurt with live culture helps with Lactose intolerance, constipation, diarrhea, colon cancer, Inflammatory bowel disease, and H. pylori infection (para. 1). It has the benefit of a prolonged lifespan. According to Victor (Februrary 2021), Eli Metchnikoff, a Russian scientist, considered probiotics’ father, stated that the lactic acid bacteria could reverse intestinal auto-intoxication after studying the lactic acid bacteria. He also observed that those who consume fermented milk have a longer lifespan; thus, he theorized that the lactic acid bacteria could prolong life (p. 17).

I learned how to make yogurt from watching a video from Skillshare and YouTube. I read blog postings from people who make yogurt. Yogurt making was unknown knowledge to me since I have never seen someone making it around me. Since everyone’s instant pot has a slight difference in the operation, I decided to follow the recipe that came with the instant pot for my first attempt.

I first acquired a yogurt culture for my yogurt. You may be able to make yogurt from a commercialized yogurt, but I decided to buy a yogurt starter mix. I used yogurt culture from Euro Cuisine. 

Ingredients

Milk 42 oz

Yogurt culture one package

Procedures

Pour 42 oz of milk in an instant pot.

Choose the yogurt function, and adjust the mode to boil. The boiling process takes approximately 30 minutes on my instant pot. The instant pot brings up the milk to 180 F. This heating process allows for firmer, thicker yogurt. I usually boil it for a little longer to make thicker yogurt.

A thin layer of film or skin form appears on the milk’s surface after heating. I take out the film. I forgot a piece of film on my first try, and the texture felt awful in it. Now let the milk cool down to 111 – 113F. It takes approximately 45 minutes.

Pour the warm milk from the instant pot (111 – 113F) into a pitcher, and mix the yogurt culture packet (5g). Lightly whisk to dissolve all of the yogurt cultures into the warm milk. 

Pour the mixture of warm milk and yogurt culture into the rest of the milk in the instant pot. Close the lid, and set the instant pot to yogurt for 7 hours. My instant pot stops heating after 7 hours. 

Once the yogurt is cool enough to refrigerate, I put the yogurt into mason jars and refrigerate it. 

I usually make yogurt on Friday night before going to bed to have a yogurt the following morning.

Most recipes call for 1/2 gallons of milk per two tablespoons of yogurt culture, but the yogurt culture from Euro Cuisine called for 42 oz of milk for one pack of yogurt culture. I accidentally used 1/2 gallons of milk for one yogurt culture package, but I still made yogurt. 

If you cook something in the instant pot before making yogurt, make sure to wash and dry everywhere. Once I used my instant pot right after making stew, my yogurt had a scent of cumin. I think it was because I did not fully dry off the instant pot’s lid after washing.

So far, I try to consume at least 100 g of yogurt each day. We make yogurt dressing, frozen yogurt, and Indian foods from our homemade yogurt. I found many recipes I want to try. If you add some honey and frozen fruits, you can also make a good smoothy. I try not to add so much sugar to my yogurt since eating sugar may not be a good idea. 

We refrigerate our yogurt in mason jars. Yogurt never lasts in my house as we use them up within ten days after making it. So I know homemade yogurt lasts at least ten days.

I cannot say yogurt healed me of my leaky gut problems since I consume many other fermented products. But, I can say this. I have not had leaky gut problems since I am consciously eating fermented products.

References

Magee, E., MPH, & RD. (n.d.). The Benefits of Yogurt. WebMD. Retrieved March 27, 2021, from https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/benefits-yogurt

Victor, G. (2021). Absolute Prebiotic Diet Guide: Active Prebiotic Health/Kitchen Recipes to Renew The Body & Brain (Kindle).