Our return to Jakarta was long as we had 7 hours layover in Bali. I worked for 2 hrs., watched Netflix for 4, and napped for an hour. We arrived home past midnight and slept 4 hrs. before the start of the week. Both girls had school and then swimming. We were exhausted by the end of the day and went to bed before 8pm on Monday.
After a full week of relaxing vacation in Perth, I feel recharged and excited to tackle the next phase, which may last 6-8 weeks. My mind went through a rollercoaster of being anxious about what will come next, trying to be open to embrace whatever outcome I end up with, telling myself that it is a process of being uncomfortable and uncertain which I’ve went through many times before. The only difference is that I am now older, wiser, more at peace with my life that I’ve ever been before. Mentally, it is a good place to be, I think.
Yet, I also know I need to clear my plate as much as possible to give my mind to rest, recharge, and not feeling falling behind if I expect to juggle too many balls when one ball is taking up a lot of my energy. So few strategies I plan to implement:
- Have 1-3 key tasks (related to the heavy ball) per day, ideally 1-2, to be tackled first thing in the morning when my mental focus is its highest.
- Think about next day’s task when I am rested, either in the evening or the next morning, as I know when I am tired, I don’t want to tackle another difficult task even if it’s in the future.
- Say no more often for commitment that does not support my main goal. Turn down offers, invites, kindly but firmly.
- Spend more time with family and leisure, which may sound counterintuitive. It means less hours working as those would be intense, more time to relax and take my mind off.
Sharing a meal we had in Perth. As Sofia put it, it’s the perfect balanced meal. As we stayed in airbnb, we cooked dinner every night which is our favorite meal of the day.
I think I had the same breakfast and dinner every day during our stay: oatmeal, broccoli with carrot, mustard greens or bok choy with tofu, and pumpkin for dinner. I AM SOOOO BORING but I find them comforting.
Our New Journey 
All the best with the busy time ahead! It always seems so daunting before diving in.
It’s a good idea to do the most important tasks first thing – as I always say: “eat the frog first!”
That plate looks delicious and healthy!
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I don’t think your meals are boring. I think streamlining the meal process is an easy way to get precious minutes back in your day. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel every day, just keep it simple. Also when traveling this helps to not waste food!!
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I don’t think your meals are boring. I think streamlining the meal process is an easy way to get precious minutes back in your day. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel every day, just keep it simple. Also when traveling this helps to not waste food!!
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I like to have the same breakfast and lunch too – maybe boring, but also comforting! Welcome home, Coco!
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Oof that’s a long layover! So you got home at midnight Sunday night and then like 7 hours later the girls had to be at school?? Rough!! Hopefully you’re getting rested up now.
We so rarely ever cook on vacation. It’s just not something we care to do. We so enjoy going out on our trips!! We don’t care at all about “fancy” restaurants exactly, but we love a good place with a cool/fun atmosphere with a great vibe where we can unwind and chat about our day out exploring and discuss our plans for the next day. It’s one of our fav parts of traveling! But overall in normal life I am not opposed at all to repeating meals and eating same things a lot. If you like it and it works, why not?!
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I tend to eat the same things for breakfast and lunch most days. I am a creature of habit! Your meals in your Airbnb look so good!
Good luck with this busy phase. It’s good that you had a break/vacation leading up to it as vacations can really recharge us.
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Best of luck for a busy month. You got this. For me it’s the opposite- November and December in education field are pretty low energy months. November we only work for 15 days, and the same in December because of Christmas break so I am looking forward to having some time to myself. September and October were busy.
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