2 months down

It is now close to two months that I have embarked on the change challenge.
I have not blogged often, but there has been some progress in my challenge.

To begin, my challenge is to adopt a healthy lifestyle, which can be broken down to:
1. Exercise 3 times a week
2. Eat healthily
3. Do activities that give me joy

Looking at exercising, I began the plan well the first few weeks in which I went for runs and to the gym for some cardio workout. But as time passes by, I have not been able to find time to fit in my exercise schedules. I tried to compensate it in some creative manner. Firstly, I used my opportunity to cycling back and forth from the department, where I take a longer route and cycle faster. I have been going up to Magdelene College from the Engineering department and then turning back to Wolfson college. This gives me about 5km of cycling. I have been doing this at least 3 times a week, but at the same time not locking in a schedule. I do this when I go for grocery shopping on the weekend as well. This enabled me to fit in some sort of exercise while not allocating time for it. Though it is not exercising per to say, that was a way for me to compensate for it. In addition to that, I have been going for Yoga on Tuesdays as well, which has been refreshing. The challenge is that it starts at 6.00 pm while my class finished at that time as well, so I have to rush back. However, I have been able to join the sessions timely.

With regard to eating healthily, it has not been going well for me. Initially, I tried cooking in the college kitchen. On one side I wanted to try to be vegetarian, but on the other side, I know how to cook non-vegetarian curry meals or spaghetti. Both these are not too high in nutrients, as they are more to carbohydrates (which is sugar in a way). When I wanted to try buying vegetables, the options here in the UK are limited to what I used to have back in Malaysia, and hence I could not get the right vegetable to cook. At one point I cooked salad leaves, which is something I will not recommend to anyone. I guess they are meant to be eaten as it is. Finally, I decided I will eat the food from the college dining hall and the department cafe. The food from the dining hall is not too bad, and I have been choosing the vegetarian option often, not all the time. However, the option in the engineering department cafe is limited to baguette, and hence it is not too healthy I guess. I need to find a way to plan my lunch, which is something I need to work on.

Moving on the doing activities that make me happy, I have embarked on dancing. Though I have been really worried about joining the dance activity in the first two weeks, I forced myself to go in the third week, and I do not regret the decision. Salsa and Bachata have been refreshing, so much that I look forward to it every week. I have been talking to my friends and classmates and asking them to join as well. I am trying to find other activities as well, and for now, I have been wanting to watch plays. But somehow I am finding a hard time to find for one, but I will keep looking.

In essence, I feel these three things as a whole need to be balanced with my study or work schedule. But with a tight timeline, more focus needs to be given to study, which then puts me in a situation that I neglect my healthy lifestyle. However, I remind myself repeatedly to keep doing these activities.