Rocking in the Free World

Well, this post is not as fancy or introspective as the title might suggest – it merely comprises of a few random thoughts that are running around in my head regarding my lifestyle, which I have felt the need to pen down.

I live alone and comfortably in a small and compact, albeit cozy 1BHK (bedroom | hall | kitchen, for those uninitiated in house-hunting jargon ), with a little more than the basic amenities that one would require for living in a place like that. This post doesn’t lament the fact that I stay alone, I choose to live like that, I have a large ‘my space’ radius, if you know what I mean.

In addition, I do on certain occasions manage to whip up a meal in the evenings, and in the absence of a maid-servant or any other help (once again, out of my own volition) manage all the chores such as washing vessels, clothes, cleaning the place and the general maintenance and upkeep that a house like that requires.

My cooking forays have surprised some of my close friends, specially with the amount of time invested in preparing something elaborate for me to chomp on, and it comes as a surprise to them that I would do something like that, solely for myself.

The food is invariably rich in ghee/oil, and is the kind that would settle into one’s stomach and would require exercise for digestion. Its also been told, in a lot of health circles, that the quantity one eats should proportionately decrease as one approaches sleep-time, which means that a breakfast should be the heaviest meal, while lunch and dinner should end up getting progressively lighter.

Conversely, my routine and lifestyle just brings about the very opposite of that stated axiom for healthy living. Light or no breakfasts, with the urgency of having to get to the office, a long and decent quality lunch with friends, and a more often than not elaborate spread for dinner, by me, for me. This, plus some late night reading / TV watching / arbit writing results in my staying up late, and I’ve found out that with a quick 20 min power nap at the office, five and a half hours of sleep is necessary and sufficient to get by without drops in productivity levels (though I am not sure, for how long).

Now, I have this idea of jogging in order to get into shape, and by shape, I just mean a resurrection of my now weak stamina, for I shall remain as skinny as a rail for the rest of my life, regardless. I thought of jogging in the morning after waking up, and leaving the water-heater on so that the water is ready to put bath by the time I return, have an elaborate breakfastpost bath and then go to the office.

This sounds very nice in theory, but with a lot of other things to contend with during the entire time before I have to head out to the office, it just becomes cumbersome sometimes, which is where the solo living manages to bog one down.

I am currently in search of the perfect balance that will enable me to do all the work that comes out of not having anyone else to share it with, while at the same time, ensuring that there’s scope for healthy existence.

What I am looking out for, I guess is the perfect routine, that will not bore me to death eventually. Paradoxically, that is precisely what routines generally do!