Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 22oC, warmish, sunny, and slightly overcast.
Monday is the beginning of the working week, the new month, and the year’s second half. Now, it is less thinking, more doing, and the need for much distraction control. If we allow it, life will easily drag or entice us away from our goals and dreams.
We need to be conscious of this, be sincere with ourselves, know where we are letting ourselves down in achieving our goals, and know when to stop or control something taking us away from what we desire.
Discipline is an essential factor in living a successful and fruitful life. It is the discipline to either do or not do something even though temptation or even laziness is telling us otherwise. How we deal with these issues will matter in the long run, especially in today’s modern society, where there are a multitude of temptations and distractions, both virtual and real.
Virtual temptations like doom scrolling through endless sources of social media, Netflix and other streaming services have truly little positive use for us. It is more negative than positive concerning our mental health, but we still do it and do it a lot.
Or the plethora of shops, stores, and restaurants suffocating us online and physically on the street. Once you leave home, you are bombarded from all directions by establishments wanting to take your money and your physical and mental health.
I know that consumerism is one of the most important words in any modern society, especially economics and that America was built on it and has sustained itself because of it for so long. However, one other special word in any language that needs recognition is “NO.”
It is sometimes necessary to deny yourself and your loved ones the superficiality and ostentatious needs that society puts in front of our faces, like a donkey and a carrot, which eventually fizzle away after a fleeting period.
There is a need to say no to eating more than what is necessary or desirable. There is a need to say no to another pair of shoes or clothes when you already have a full wardrobe, and one more will not make a real difference.
There is a need to say no to laziness and procrastination so that we do not sabotage our future goals, wishes, or desires so that our future can become fuller, better, healthier, and more rewarding for us in the long run.
Maybe we are afraid of what we are capable of or what we could become and deserve to become. We unconsciously or even sometimes consciously hold ourselves back, stopping ourselves from being what or who we should be and where we have the potential to be.
So, it is more action, less talking and 100% focus on what must be done for the next six months until the end of the year. Let the ride begin because I want to enjoy it, and I deserve it, too.
The winter has finally arrived in Rio. We cannot compare a tropical Carioca winter to an English winter. I have been living in Brazil for so long now that it is cold for me when the temperature begins to fall below 20 degrees Celsius.
I love the middle seasons of Spring and Autumn in Rio. Cool nights and warm days with cool breezes make you feel alive when walking in front of the beach. I like, respect, and admire the wind. I did kitesurf and sailed for several years, so I learned to respect and admire the wind for what it represents in terms of power and force.
Usually, women do not like the wind because of their hair; in the other seasons in Rio, it is not so windy, but in Spring and Autumn, it is more. It makes a difference with more life being breathed into the city and without the stuffiness of the sticky heat of the Summer.
Everything is good. I have worked, studied, made plans, and received money! What more do I need? I am trying to eat less, so I am trying to avoid eating after 6 pm. I have got to do it today, and it is an incredibly good feeling.
In bed by 9.30 pm.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading my blog. Check out my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments.
Richard
