health

We are now on the 10th month of the Year 2020 and what a bizarre year it has been.

As I mentioned in my first post on my blog, I started this website to keep track of my travels, to push myself to accomplish my goals and get into my new photography hobby. As the months pass, it is starting to look like COVID-19 is here to stay for a while longer as the world continues to battle the contagious virus. Instead of pouting about the major inconveniences that this virus has caused for me with this life project, I’ve decided to concentrate my efforts on improving myself — more specifically, my health.

I spent all of my 20s, mainly concentrating on my studies, my business, and my career. I worked very long hours with little sleep and looking back on those years, I would not take anything back since it has put me in a position in my life where I’m happy where I am currently at. Although I am happy and humbled to be in my current position, I think it is important for everyone to continue to push themselves to become better, to keep moving up the ranks and to never settle. The thing is… I have not balanced my work life with my own life and I am feeling the ‘wear and tear’, both mentally and physically.

Now that I’ve entered my 30s and 2020 is a new decade for all of us, I have started to tilt the scales over to my mental and physical health. Health is always something that people tend to take for granted until it’s too late and of course, I do not want to put myself in that situation.

Long story short: Although 2020 has basically been a lost year for most, I dedicated this year as my ‘cleansing’ year.

• March 2020 to June 2020 – Sister spent her quarantine days with me at my place and surprisingly, we got along very well. It was great to bond with my sister and chat about everything and anything. I also rekindled my relationship with old friends who I haven’t talked to or seen in a while. It’s great to hear their voices and chat about life, giving each other valuable life advice which have been eye-opening for me.
• July 2020 – Starting to consistently go to the gym since they reopened from quarantine. 4-5 days a week, instead of the occasional 1 gym day a week, haha.
• August 2020 – A couple months ago, I’ve changed my diet — getting into more plant-based food and cutting back on meat consumption (I do not plan to ever give up meat… too ingrained in my Portuguese/French DNA). Cut off sugar drastically. Eating 5 small meals a day and sleeping earlier so I can start my days earlier. Started my ‘100 pushups a day’ morning workout to get the blood flowing early.
• October 2020 – Averaging 20,000 steps a day to prepare for the upcoming Step Challenge with friends and work colleagues! Walking has honestly improved my mental health a lot more than I expected. Not only am I enjoying the brisk Fall air, it’s been fun actually speaking with random strangers (while keeping my distance, of course) to see how people in my community are doing with their own lives. It’s always interesting hearing other people’s experiences with COVID-19.
  Started doing ‘100 pushups + 100 squats a day’ morning workout. Feeling the burn!

Since making these changes above, I feel 10x better.

I feel more energetic. I feel much happier and calmer. I’ve cut 7% of body fat and gained 10lbs of muscle mass. The best part of all this is… I feel like working out has now turned into a lifestyle for me. If I miss one day of workout, I feel completely off the entire day. I think that’s great; keeps me motivated. 🙂

Easily the longest post I’ve made on this blog and I’m going to end it here. So much has happened this year and I could easily go on and on but for now…

Enjoy the plant-based meals I’ve made these last two months!

_{Photos taken with Samsung Galaxy S10:}

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