Okay, not exactly.
But for an entire week, to address several emotional and mental health concerns with regards to my career and personal life, I decided to completely control and add rigidity to my schedule. This was my way of finding peace and regaining control.
What did this entail?
- Vegetarian food only (homemade)
- No meeting people (other than the family I live with)
- No going out (for basically anything)
- Going to sleep by 9-9:30 PM
- Awake by 5:30 AM
- 2 workouts/day
- No phone (although this wasn’t entirely possible for the whole week because I need my phone for work, I did this for 2 days of the week)
- Meditating daily
- Working during available timeframes
- Cold showers
It turned out to be one of the most peaceful weeks of my life. Many things had been stressing me out, but after this week, I felt not only less stressed but also more capable of handling ongoing problems without being as affected.
The Experience
Cold Showers
My shower geyser was not functional, and it was averaging 37°C, so cold showers were easy to start. I’d been meaning to make the shift to cold showers for a while due to all of the health benefits I’ve heard it provides, and these circumstances created the impetus for the same. I can’t really say I’ve experienced too many benefits from it, honestly. However, I’m now accustomed to them so I don’t think I’ll be taking hot showers anymore.
Workouts and Sleep Schedule
Working out twice a day and adhering to a 9:30 PM sleep and 5:30 AM wake-up schedule was straightforward since I already follow these habits for my training. Working out is (a) essential for my career (b) gives me a LOT of joy; I can go as far as to say that the hours of the day that I’m exercising are the best of the day and the hours I look forward to the most. We’re all aware of the physiological and psychological benefits of working out.
However, waking up early is a controversial topic for me. I cannot run unless on an empty stomach and I also find it more serene to run at 6 am. Running that early makes me feel that I’m outworking everyone else, arrogant as that sounds. However, everyone has the same 24 hours, so whether you run at 6am or at 10pm, it doesn’t really matter as long as you get it done, recover appropriately (which most struggle with when they try to wake up early) and don’t miss out on the tasks you need to complete. Sleeping and waking up early is overrated. But I enjoy it in a self-obsessed and masochistic way, so I do it.
Work and Phone Use
I was coding a website for an organization, so I spent my downtime coding instead of watching something or meeting friends. This was my first experience doing any actual professional coding work, and it was very challenging, but I enjoyed the struggle of having to figure things out myself.
Limiting phone usage for a couple days was blissful. While in school, I had made it a habit to, once every 3-4 months, spend a day without it. My responsibilities, however, have made this impossible to do so. But, during this week, I seized the opportunity. I didn’t have to worry about contacting anybody. I didn’t have to worry if someone was responding to me. I don’t use social media all that much anyway, so I can’t comment on that. I was craving a bit of social isolation, and other than having to interact with my parents and sister at home, I was able to cut off all social interaction for 2 days with my friends, colleagues, teammates etc. As an introvert, this was deeply satisfying and energising. While I had initially only planned to do so for one day, that day was so tranquil, that I decided to extend it by another. Of course, my boss was not very pleased with that!
Social Isolation
Other than taking my family to the doctor on one occasion and working out daily, I didn’t leave the house. Now this might be a bit extreme, but what I gained from this was a sense of control that I felt was lacking. A sense that I’m in charge of everything in my life, and regardless of anybody’s [fleeting] involvement, I could easily manage and keep going on my journey. I was the only obstacle to completing my tasks or fuelling my enjoyment. This is not to say that people aren’t important. But we all die alone, no matter how much we believe that attachment to others and having loved ones in our lives can prevent a lonely death. For me, I found solace in the time spent in solitude and self-reliance.
Meditation and Vegetarian Meals
Meditation was very helpful. It was able to help me relax, alleviate stress, and bring me closer to the present. It enabled me to further connect with my sense of self and independence as I described previously, rid of the necessity of others. I definitely will continue to incorporate meditation into my life.
The biggest challenge of the week was the vegetarian meals. In the days preceding this, I had eaten chicken 5 days in a row, which I try to avoid. I try to always have a fully vegetarian day or two every couple days. However, because of having meat 5 days consecutively, I decided to have 3 days of vegetarian food. Initially, I cooked my staple vegetarian meals, but on the 4th day, there were plenty of leftovers. So I decided to extend it to a week. But I eventually found that the challenge was to find a variety of protein sources. I experimented with tofu, rajma (kidney beans), dal (lentils/pulses), soya chunks, paneer etc. I hoped to see some physiological response with regards to my bowels and gut health after solely having vegetarian food for an extended period of time(sorry to gross you out). Unfortunately, I didn’t really notice any difference. But hey, at least I now I’ve added a bunch of vegetarian meals to my cooking repertoire!
Reflection
I needed a week like this to free myself from life’s stresses. It was just me, my vegetarian food, my workouts, and my coding. While I couldn’t live this way forever, I enjoyed the flexibility to switch between lifestyles and learn from each. This week gave me the control I craved and prepared me to embrace the uncertainties and unpredictabilities of life and the people I meet along the way.
This week of “monkhood,” though not exact, provided me with peace and a renewed sense of self.
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