Reboot

Here's to my first blog of 2025!

What's happened (a review)

Quite a lot. I finished VCE, got my ATAR, applied to some unis, got rejected by most, got accepted by one (Oxford!), went to China for the first time since COVID, started making money through helping tutor students through VCE, started at Melbourne Uni, and now I'm here. Life's been full of ups (and a few downs), but overall, I'm extremely excited about everything that's to come.

I'm currently just studying at UniMelb to mainly just give myself something to do between now and September. Uni life is definitely a different world compared to high school life, and in most ways it's better, but in some ways it's also worse. The freedom to go any day, plan your own timetable, catch up with friends is something I'm extremely grateful for. But also, there is an element now that I have a monopoly over my whole life now, and every thing I do should have some clear intention to it.

I'll probably have a bit more written about this stuff in later blogs, because right now my mind is in a bit of a mess trying to recall all the many events that have occurred since the last time I really touched this website (my bad).

A morning routine

Since the end of Year 12, my life took a bit of a hit. I was sleeping late (3am) and waking up late (10am) to watch reels in bed until lunch. That continued through the summer holidays, sort of through my trip to China, right through to my off days with uni. It got to the point where I got a bit concerned with how I was sleeping far closer to sunrise than to sunset, and that I was starting my days so late that I felt like I was just wasting huge chunks of my life.

So, recently online, my Instagram feed (like many others) was hit with this influencer called Ashton Hall posting his routine online. I remember watching when he first started posting them, and thought he was like most other creators online, trying to flex something to sell a course. There was some quite interesting stuff in his routine, including dunking his face in ice, rubbing it with a banana peel, but also some practical ones like journalling and hitting a workout.

Obviously, most people just thought it was phony. But listening to his explanation of what the routine meant to him sort of did inspire me to take back control of my life. I mean I was sleeping at the time this guy wakes up and gets ready for the day. Sure, I didn't need to wake up at 4am, but giving myself something to follow instead of stumbling through my mornings and nights would surely improve every aspect of my life.

The morning routine

So, now I:

• Sleep every day at 12am
• Wake up at 7am
• Brush my teeth
• Make a detox water with any combination of lemon, mint, cucumber or ginger
• Dunk my face in a iced, lemon water
• Have a banana and yoghurt
• Make a protein shake
• Full body workout for an hour
• Shower

And then continue on with the rest of my day, whether that be uni or just staying at home. At least now, I feel fresh, rejuvenated and completely changed from me a month ago, where I was struggling to get out of bed before the afternoon.

The morning routine takes 2 hours or so, and I feel like I have all the time in the world to enjoy the outdoor sunshine, do some work or watch the NBA playoffs. Now I can wake up every morning knowing I've done my self care that I need to do. It's been working pretty well for about three weeks now, so I'm hopeful that I can continue this strong trend going.

Along with this sleep tracker app, it's completely fixed my sleep schedule, I'm not lacking sleep anymore; instead I'm clearing out my sleep debt and not feeling tired at all during the day.

Rebuilding

This website was neglected for a bit, and I felt like I needed a way to freshen things up a little. To me, the old website looked like a reflection of high school me, semi-polished but also a bit immature with all the colours going on. I decided that it was probably the time for a redesign, which is what has happened.

However, I don't want to be stuck in a constant loop of just refreshing things. I want to add new features/ideas to this website, and so I think I'll be launching a page called insights which will have a record of some lessons I've learnt in life and that I wish to pass along for people to read. I'm by no means a professional at anything, but I feel like having extra perspectives on things in life can't hurt.

Plans for next week

1. Establish a plan to prepare for semester exams
2. Revamp my organisational system to better showcase my to-dos
3. Play around with more creative things