Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 24oC, warmish, sunny, and slightly overcast.
Friday and almost the weekend. I have created a healthy routine where I get up early and exercise daily. Even before physically getting out of bed, I do three exercises.
As soon as I am up, I make my bed, which is folding up the bed linen, putting it away in the right place, and putting the sofa bed up into the correct position as I am sleeping in the living room. I then get dressed and off out to do exercise. I am living in front of Botafogo beach; I usually cross the main Aterro dual carriageway and walk up Aterro in the direction of Flamengo.
On my left, I have the Flamengo neighbourhood and its wall of residential blocks of flats, and on the right, The Bay with Sugar Loaf Mountain, the Yacht Club and Niteroi.
Although it is still dark, the views of the Bay and Sugar Loaf and the boats from the Yacht club are stunning. Walking up about two kilometres, I eventually arrive at the dog park and the restaurant complex that was once Porcao for many years in the past.
An underground passageway connects the park with Rui Barbosa and Praia de Flamengo, the two main streets in front of Aterro, Praia de Flamengo and The Bay. So now I am coming back on myself in the direction of Praia de Botafogo and home.
Halfway down between the dual carriageway and Rui Barbosa is The Carmen Miranda Park, which has a small museum in homage to her, Carmen Miranda.
The park is surrounded by a high stone wall, and with only one entrance with a gate, it is perfect for taking dogs; I spent many years taking mine here. I usually enter the park at about twenty past five in the morning. It is still dark, and there is a lot of heavy vegetation with tall and overgrown trees that fill the park with so much life.
At the far end of the park, which has more dense trees and vegetation, there is a post where I can set up my TRX straps, exercise, and skip. If I have a seven o’clock class, it is half an hour of training with the straps and fifteen to twenty minutes of skipping.
Usually, when I am leaving the park, it is already beginning to get light. Continuing down Rui Barbosa, crossing Praia de Botafogo and entering Rua Marques de Abrante, there is a Portuguese baker on the left one hundred metres walking up.
At the front of the shop is a café area with tables and chairs where you can order whatever you want. After going there so many times, the girls there know what I want without saying anything, only good morning, and in two minutes, they bring me a large black coffee. Sometimes, I write in my journal; other times, I scroll and post for the school or my photography page.
Now, it is about twenty to seven; I pay for the coffee or coffees, leave a tip, always leave a tip, and arrive home in less than five minutes. Nalva and Yasmin are usually about to go, so I can organise my desk, make myself a tea and be ready for the first class. Sometimes after the first class, I have free time to: 1. Tidy the kitchen and put everything right. 2. Sweep the flat and throw the rubbish away. 3. To make sure that everything is more or less in its proper place and that the flat is relatively tidy. 4. Put clothes to wash or to hang up to dry. 5. Double-check that everything is nice and tidy. And 6. Shower, shave and get dressed for the rest of the day.
So, by ten a.m., everything was ship-shaped and tidy. The flat was reasonably clean, and I was, too! I was ready to face the rest of the day and be productive. We cannot move forward in life if our home is a mess. How can we have peace to be focused and effective if we live in a mess? It just does not work.
Some people have no problem and have got used to living in a mess or confusion, but you do not see their lives going ahead in leaps and bounds or even professionally the way they would like. The routine I have slowly adopted from doing exercise a year and a half ago to now, where everything is done by 10 am, is life-changing and has helped me immensely in my personal development.
So, it is Friday, the flat is ok; I have given classes until 4 pm and after I can rest and relax a little. Yasmin has already arrived home, and my name is still Dirt. Nalva came home at about six pm, and we opened a bottle of wine; if it were ten years ago, it would have been at least two bottles; we changed.
In bed by 10.00 pm.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading my blog. Check out my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments.
Richard
