Title: My new habits
Created: 2024-04-27
Changed: 2024-04-27
Author: Alexander Arkhipov <aa@manpager.org>

It's been a while since I last wrote pretty much anything at all hasn't
it? That is just one part of something I wished to write about now: some
new habits I acquired, the consequences, and what habits I'd like to
(re-)acquire still.


TAKING WALKS

In Moscow, whenever I would get out of home it would always be to get to
work, to a shop, or some other such mundane thing. I still think of
Moscow as Mount Doom, and of Russia as Mordor, but really, I never knew
either too well apart from their people.

Kutaisi on the other hand, seems a very pleasant town. I enjoy taking
long walks right after breakfast. The air is fresh and warm, and there
are few distractions. I can be alone in my head, while not suffocating
from the lack of oxygen. There are hills to climb, churches to see, and
a river to listen to.


VISITING CHURCH

In Moscow, I would sometimes pray, but I'd barely ever go to church.
Well, here I've decided to visit a church at least once a week, and I do
too. There I usually just light a candle and have a prayer, but just for
that I feel so much better.


EXPERIMENTS WITH MY SLEEP

Back in Moscow there was no pattern to my sleep. Now I pretty much just
fall asleep when it becomes dark, and wake up as the sun comes up. I
discovered that the following works very well:

- An hour before going to sleep, turn off all monitors.
- After that read some fiction (a dead-tree paper book!).
- Keep a pen, paper, and small lamp near your bed. This way if something
  suddenly pops into my head, I can write it down, and promise myself
  that I'll investigate that in the morning.
- Don't set up an alarm clock, and turn off all light and noise sources.


USING PHONE (HEALTHILY)

One of the first things I did out of university was buying a
"dumbphone", and getting rid of my smartphone. I think that worked out
quite well overall, but it did turn out that smartphones also have some
practical uses. So, I bought the cheapest non-Chinese one I could find,
and mostly I just keep it in the aeroplane mode inside a drawer. I take
it out when I have to use it, but I don't feel "dependent upon" or
"sucked into" the thing.


WORKING ON A PROJECT

That's a habit I've sadly lost, and would like to re-acquire in the
nearby future. What I think happened is that during the time I slaved in
the office I usually felt so tired, and there had so little time left,
that I only found it within myself to work on something during the
vacation. And when I left, getting a new monetary income was such a
central issue for me that I could barely think of anything else. But
now that none of that is an issue, I find myself stuck at the question
of "but what's next".

It seems a bit silly, especially after writing it down. I hope to
resolve that soon, and start doing something fun again.