For the longest time – and to a lesser extent, even now – I could be living a better lifestyle. I don’t get enough sleep, I could exercise more, and while I eat pretty well at meals I have a weakness for snacks. #ChipsForLife
I’d gained a lot of weight between 2014 and 2018, and much of it came down to a sedentary lifestyle. I was frequently working eight to nine hours in the office, and did some more on my mobile during my commute or at home. All of which left me so mentally drained the idea of going to the gym, or even just a walk, felt too much. It didn’t help that my office was in woop woop for much of that period, which enabled my endless excuses for not going to a gym.
At the beginning of 2018 my team moved offices to Causeway Bay. (What is this? People? Traffic?? OMG, makeup department!…I’m screwed.) Even then I still used work exhaustion and decision fatigue as excuses not to work out, until I realised there’s no “good time” to start doing better. So at the beginning of 2019 I finally signed up to a gym and decided to work with a personal trainer.
A horrible extravagance? Absolutely, and if you’re a good solo exerciser it’s definitely not necessary. I’m not though, and I had no idea what I was doing, so it’s been worth every cent.
I still have a long way to go, but what’s important is I’m consistently showing up for myself and I’m making deliberate efforts to be healthier. Once that was on track, I found myself looking for other ways to improve my lifestyle. The key is to start small but keep at it. This journey is different for everyone, but here are the things I’ve found to have helped me.
Hue lights
I feel a lot of my health problems stem from my lack of sleep, and partly it’s because I’m one of those nighttime procrastinators. Not only does this make me go to bed way too late (or early, depending on how you see it…) I also find it hard to get out of bed in the morning because I’m not getting enough rest.
To help with my chronic sleep depravation, I started looking into Hue lights, which is a lighting system that links up to an app on your phone. I set it to turn on a little before I get home in the evenings to a soft, warm glow, so I never turn on the “big lights” in my bedroom at night. Instead, as soon as I walk in I automatically feel like, “ahhh, this is the room for rest.” Even if I do then spend some time in the living room, I’ve already set my bedroom up to be such a cosy, welcoming, calming space, I’m more eager to get back there for sleep.
Another thing I use my Hue lights for is to wake me up. I set it to gradually light up at about ten minutes before I actually have to get a move on, and to take ten minutes to reach its brightest light. It wakes me from my sleep so gradually and gently it’s significantly reduced my anxiety in the morning. It doesn’t matter what you set your alarm sound to, it’s still stressful, isn’t it?? So Hue lights for my wake up call is great.
Hot lemon water
Continuing in the theme of sleep, I also find it really difficult to get up in the morning. I have never in my life been one of those jump-out-of-bed people, which makes me run late a lot. (I’m sorry, everyone!)
Having cats do kind of help, because once they hear me stirring they start to meow at my door and I generally have to get up and feed them. Before, it was so easy to quickly shuffle back into my room and crawl back into bed, but at the start of 2020 I implemented a system to keep me out of bed for longer.
This year I’ve started drinking a glass of hot lemon water in the morning for that dose of Vitamin C and hydration, and to kickstart my digestive system.
I prep everything the night before. I fill my thermos kettle with hot water, have my mug ready at my Morning Station, and there’s turmeric and honey if I feel like adding it, and I keep sliced lemon in the fridge.
I take my hot lemon water back to my room and have it on my vanity so I won’t be tempted to go back to bed. I can’t let it get cold and waste it! (I do drink it in bed on days off though.)
I open some of my curtains, go ahead and brush my teeth, cleanse my face, and by the time I get to my vanity for my morning skincare routine the water has cooled down a touch and is ready to drink. I love how warm and clean this simple step makes me feel in the morning.
Evening tea
We are still continuing in the theme of sleep! I’ve been a cuppa-at-night person for the longest time, and I don’t know why I’d never considered it before – probably because it’s just such a comforting ritual for me – but I recently switched out my evening cuppa for something caffeine-free.
Since steering away from my beloved English breakfast with a dash of soy milk if it’s after 17:00, I feel my quality of sleep has improved. I guess I never realised how much that caffeine was affecting me at night, I’d been making it part of my evening wind-down for so long.
If I’m home by dinner time, I’ll make myself a cup of mint tea, and then before I retreat into my room I’ll make a cup of Get Some Zzz’s from The Republic of Tea to bring in with me. If I’m home late I’ll just do one or the other.
Yeah, I can just drink water but I still enjoy the soothing effects of a hot cup of something at night. I’ve never been able to go home and go straight to bed, I always need to wind down, but a cuppa substitute has made a big difference.
If you’re having trouble sleeping, I highly recommend the Get Some Zzz’s tea. Its combination of Rooibos, chamomile, passionflower and Valerian is very soothing, and the scent is incredibly calming.
Plants
This is kinda a weird one, because it’s not really a habit, but at the end of last year I got a whole bunch of plants. Currently I have…13. Actually, 14, but I’m pretty sure one’s on its way out. I don’t do well with succulents.
I have two bougainvilleas on my balcony, with a vase of…erm, I don’t know what they are. I call them my pineapple plants because it reminds me of the top of a pineapple. Then I have two orchids, two snake plants, and two prayer plants in my living room. There are also two in water I don’t know the names of.
In my bedroom I have a vine and another one I don’t know the name of. (Give me a break, I’m a cat person.) Here! Here’s what the two in my bedroom look like!
The plants definitely add colour and life to my home, which I love, but the part I feel is improving my life is that I have something to look after. They each like different degrees of care and watering, and I enjoy trying to understand each plant and give them what they need.
I won’t lie, one prayer plant and one snake plant aren’t really thriving, and I’m a bit nervous about when I’ll have to repot them all in new soil. But it’s been a fun challenge so far. Checking in on them gives me something to do at night so I’m not just sitting around, and I like the responsibility.
Long walks
As I said in my intro, I work out three days a week at most, but right now I’m trying to actively make the decision to exercise lightly on one or two of the days I’m not at the gym.
Frankly, that hasn’t been easy. I’m not naturally an exercise junkie, and quite honestly I’m not doing anything that will make me sweat loads. Really, it’s mostly just walks, but it’s better than nothing.
Maybe I’ll call my mum up and see if she wants to take a walk along the river, or instead of taking the train one stop to go home after lunch we’ll walk back from Sha Tin, or when I go over for dinner I’ll go wearing comfy exercise clothes and walking shoes and I’ll join my parents for their evening walk. All of these tend to be one hour long, so even if I’m not huffing, puffing and sweating, it’s still a decent chunk of moving around.
As I get older I’m valuing my time with my mum more and more, so making that time to spend with her and my stepdad has also been a great way to strengthen our relationship.
That’s it! Once again, this is all a work in progress and a moving target. Please don’t take this to mean I’m my best self right now, I’m not. Far from it. But it feels good to take these steps, it feels good to show up for myself and actively make choices to improve myself and my lifestyle.
Do you have suggestions for other things I can try? Leave a comment below, I would love to learn from you!
Heidi Yeung 
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