I lost my Wordle streak this morning, getting into one of those situations I see a lot of people in – four out of five letters correct, then you’re looking for what words essentially rhyme with your attempts so far. Oh well, you know how it is: you’re pissed off for all of two seconds, and then you just try again the next day. Life’s too short for getting that addicted to games and for getting that attached to results that you get emotional about it. I did better in Quordle, though, getting the words on the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh attempts.

I harped on a while back about repairing shoes to extend their life. It’s only really relevant to outsoles, I guess, but recently I’ve realised that some of my oldest leather shoes no longer bear the same amount of support on the inside. People talk about having their shoes for up to a decade, but unless they are made with handmade Italian craftsmanship or something along those lines, I am not sure that replacing the inner sole or lining is worth it, or even possible. You can usually tell by popping your hand in the shoe and feeling around the sole. A shoe with regular wear and tear will have compressed in the spots where the balls of toes and heel are. Your shoes bear your entire weight, after all. I might reconsider how often I replace my shoes, especially given that I have walked in some of them for tens of thousands of steps over the course of several years. You can also tell when you compare your shoes with a new pair. Old pairs just don’t seem as supportive and might even be painful to walk in. That seems the case with my lace-up ankle boots, which have sustained more than enough rain as well. 🤨

I am currently on a new strength training program. I’m pretty excited to be lifting more heavy shit and getting stronger in the gym. 😆 I started with 65kg barbell squat for my first workout on the weekend. I remember when that amount of weight was not only scary, but I also couldn’t do it with proper form. 🤯 That weight is beginning to feel a lot more comfortable now. I don’t know if I have any specific lifting goals other than to see the numbers rise and be more comfortable lifting more weight, but my mind tells me that if I ever hit 80, I might be absolutely mind-boggled as to how I can squat that much weight. Having a lot of weight on your back is scary, and I’m thankful to my coach for helping me get to a point where I feel more confident and less fearful of lifting (and injuring myself, heh).

I was re-organising my wardrobe on the weekend, since I wasn’t completely happy with how I’d organised it when we first moved in. Something I have observed is how I own far fewer clothes than I did many years ago, and that means I am repeating the same outfits and wearing the same clothes extremely frequently. Some of my clothes are starting to see a lot more wear than others, especially if the fabric isn’t of the best quality, or even just in the usual places like at the elbows and armpits, and even just discolouration around the neckline or hems. It might not sound ideal, but I think about it positively: these clothes are being loved, and worn, and I’m enjoying wearing them. A few months ago we dropped by the jeweller to get our wedding rings cleaned, and the staff member said of my engagement ring that the prong was a bit crooked but the diamond wasn’t loose. He said it’s sustained some normal wear and tear but that’s a good thing, and it means “I’m enjoying the ring”. Something clicked when he made that comment. It’s not just true of engagement rings, but with anything we own, I guess – it’s a good thing if you are enjoying it and making use of it.

My peace lily has been doing well. I have been giving it a bit of water every few days and feeling the soil with my finger to see if it’s damp or not. The pot doesn’t have drainage, and I definitely want to make sure it never gets waterlogged, so I think I’m better off making sure the soil is dry and not giving it too much water.

I have been trying to create a better habit of making better use of the time between end-of-work (around 5:00pm, I guess) and dinner time (whenever that ends up being). I normally just wait and bum around surfing the internet while Nick finishes work, but I want to set clearer boundaries again, and actually use the time wisely. I have often felt like I waste that time because by the time I feel “settled”, it’s already post-dinner, and I take a shower and it feels late. I want to attempt to use that time to go for a walk (I usually aim to walk 10,000 steps a day), do housework that needs doing, and maybe work on things like write blog posts. I sort of want to do the same with my time in the morning. I feel like I spend a fair bit of time dawdling and killing time by playing games or surfing the internet, even on days that I do work out or go to the gym or head for a walk.

I hope that it helps me become more disciplined towards my passion projects like this blog and my podcast, and that it leads to feeling more mentally balanced and less stressed. We’ll see. I’m not sure that I believe in a habit taking a certain amount of time to form. I just don’t think those kinds of things are black and white. I chase consistency and progress, and that can be incredibly incremental, and progress can even look like a handful of peaks and troughs. I’m generally also wary of trying to change or improve multiple things at the same time, because it can be overwhelming. I’m also trying to be better at being on time and not rushing to things. I have historically hardly left myself enough time to travel to places or to get ready. So that’s something I hope to improve on as well.

Also I discovered these Skittles Giants when I was in the supermarket the other day. Oh my god. Anyone who knows me knows that Skittles are my absolute vice. And now they are in a giant form and a little softer to chew too? Bingoooo.