I spend time in nature as often as possible.
And exercise 4 or 5 days a week.
We are keeping this SFW, yeah?
I generally do whatever I want.
Semi retired.
Live in a van.
Have no real responsibilities to speak of other than making sure neither the GF nor I go hungry.
Ride my bikes.
Look at the clouds.
Play with my penis.
Not necessarily in that order nor everyday.
pilates / swim / gym (rarely) and ride gravel / mountain bikes 2-3 times a week was 4-5
lads trips a few times a year germany or sun/pool
and a fair few mtb trips with friends or solo
One of the reasons for my recent breakup (and subsequent breakdown) was trying to square the circle between doing things just for myself and being selfish.
Despite now being single, I still have problems with this, mainly because defining "doing things for myself" is so difficult. Is reading Private Eye doing something for myself when there are other jobs to do? Why am I talking to people on the internet when I could be moving firewood from the outside store to the inside, or painting the parts of the house that need it still? Why am I not trying to find time in my day to look after the garden?
The biggest, most selfish thing I do is skydive. It is intensely personal, but even then most of my jumping is coaching new starters, jumping with other people to improve them or filming teams. I think the only truly selfish jumps I have done this season have been my wingsuiting ones. That benefits no one but me, so yes, for me, but also selfish.
Is reading Private Eye doing something for myself when there are other jobs to do?
Does it matter?
Do you enjoy doing it? If so then that's a good thing.
Took a while for the GF to understand that me doing nothing was me doing something.... In that moment I was doing nothing and it felt good.
Daily:
- I try really hard not to rush my first cup of tea when I get up. Such a simple thing but it's like a little piece of calm before dealing with today's issues (whatever they may be)
- Music, listen to some, whether it's in the car, in the home office or sat on the train.
Weekly
- Something related to boats or bikes. Doesn't matter if it's fixing stuff, lugging boats off to events for children, doing a race officer duty or actually going riding or sailing. This weekend I did some light support for youth sailing then race officer for Sunday's club racing. I did get to drive the rescue boat recovery tractor though. Hadn't done that for a while and was pleased I did it acceptably.
- Learn something new about/for my work.
- Watch a decent film or couple of episodes of something worth watching.
My thoughts now tend towards “what can I do that isn’t for me”.
I've a hip flask that's empty next time we go bikepacking...
Daily dog walk. Half an hour to an hour. Ride for 3-5 hours on a Saturday morning. Couple of short mid week rides.
Making Sunday Roast with some tunes on. Bliss.
Daily I currently go for a walk during my lunch break, usually along the sea front, onto the sand as far away from people as the tide allows! Gets me away from the computer, desk, office environment, into fresh air & daylight, relaxing next to the sounds of the sea, sometimes walk barefoot. Or I'll jump on my bike that I rode to work on and go to the park.
2 or 3 quick trials riding sessions at the weekend, in the back garden, for half an hour to an hour usually, over obstacles constructed from cut up pallets, a concrete wall, skinny beams, etc. Don't usually have enough energy after commuting by bike all week to go for a proper mountain bike ride, nor enough time to drive somewhere with the hardtail (doorstep rides not that inspiring), so riding a trials bike in the back garden actually works pretty well, I can arrange the obstacles in whatever way I want to ride and get my fix for technical challenging riding.
Daily? Music is pretty much constant except when I'm teaching but even then it's often present. Late night reading for an hour or so often combined with a long soak in a very hot bath, it helps my bad hip. I also tidy things.
Weekly? A couple of rides one of which is usually solo or better, with Max the collie. Time spent making or fixing things. Tomorrow's project is to make a small table from a scrap signpost a friend has given me.
Things I do for me
Walking, running, or riding my bikes around local woods, footpaths, bridleways and quiet roads. Reading books, Listening to music and making late night snacks.
I see all these as kinds of therapy which I definitely need to help me recharge enough to be able to face interacting with other humans.
On the music it's actually alot more than just listening, I've always been into my music, but since lockdown I've really enjoyed falling down Spotify and YouTube music rabbit holes, and making lots of playlists with newly discovered music and forgotten gems.
