Obsessions.

Life is quiet, so I've got nothing to blog but my ponderings.

Something I just realised, I haven't been buying freddos all year. I used to regularly buy bags of Freddos to keep in my desk drawer at work. so that I could eat one after lunch with a cup of tea. Boring lunch but a tasty dessert afterwards. I broke the lunchtime chocolate habit over the summer holidays and decided to not buy any more drawer chocokate, but just buy a fundraiser if I really wanted something. So in the end, I've eaten a lot less chocolate this year and saved money. That's something I can be quite proud of, desk chocolate has been a long term habit.

Current obsession: how to eat better for my gut for my skin. Gut friendly diets are the current thing, and I'm jumping on board with that. Hoping that my itchy skin will improve if I have happier gut bacteria. I have to say, I've had a small win this year with skin, a colleague suggested Chickweed ointment for the itchy fingers, and I got it (after failing many a recommended natural remedy such as moo goo or beeswax based creams) and blow me down, it's pretty good. It is dark and smelly, but it sooths the itch as well as steroid cream does. I've been using it since the end of April. It's not a cure, no cream is a cure, but it is effective and soothing the itch.

Anyway, I've been leaning my diet in a healthy direction this year. I heard a guy on the ABC talking about gut health and saying the mediterranean diet is the best place to start, lots of vegetables, good oils, avoid processed foods, cut down on meat. That sounded doable. I think it is a well-balanced diet. I'm not super strict about it, but it's the baseline anyway. The next step is, decrease sugar and try some of those fermented foods that good bacteria love. unsweetened yoghurt, kimchi, etc. I'm not sure how I'll incorporate those regularly, they sound weird. But that's my next step.

I'm on a bit of a campaign to minimalise some stuff around the house. The new rule is, NO SPARES! No spare stuff. The only time you need a spare is if being without would ruin your day. So spare tire, good. Spare key. Yes. Spare toilet paper, yes yes yes yes. But spare sunscreen, spare food, no. I'm on a mission to work through the redundant contents of my pantry, freezer and bathroom cupboards. I actually use very few things week to week. It's just the assumption that I buy things for the future instead of for this week.

I was obsessed with online clothes browsing, but I didn't buy anything. Swapping winter clothes away for summer clothes under the bed helped, feels like new wardrobe, even though I haven't worn them. Got enough clothes. NO SPARES applicable.

There is more daylight so I feel like there is time to breathe in the day. There are a lot of things that feel better in natural light. Garden things, reading, housework.

I bought an audiobook called Work Clean, about how chefs are really organised and good at planning and achieving. I haven't got that far in. A common theme of all organisational management methods I've heard about is to make your day to day tasks feed your big goal. Work is more satisfying if you aren't just being busy, but working towards something and marking off progress. I think one useful thing I've absorbed from this book is your actions are easier if your environment is well planned. It's something I'm becoming more aware of. I've come up with an ingenious basket for my laptop charger and backup that hangs off the bottom of the table, so it's neither cluttering the table nor inconveniently put away. Win! So like, if something is annoying, just fix it. My iCal was annoying because I usually want to add things to my personal calendar but the default was adding things to my work calendar. I finally fixed that.

I wonder if I'm becoming too independent. My life is really good, and I don't really need anybody else. At the moment I am quite dismissive of marriage, and even friendships are a mixed blessing. I do pretty well on my own. Is that good or sad, I don't know.