Feeling content, and on the way to improvement :)

I'm just about to head off to bed, and it's been a little while so I thought I would take this chance to talk about the little routine I've gotten myself into and my "studies", and some other nice things that has been happening recently :)

I try, nightly, to stretch my body fully, not as in yoga, which I find painfully slow, but just stretching so I can try to keep my body ache-free. Then, I do 50 pushups in addition to whatever I managed during the rest of the day in order to try and keep myself fit as I don't live a very active lifestyle otherwise. Then, I meditate for 10 minutes. I'm not very good at keeping myself dedicated to just breathing and processing, but I'll learn, I'm sure. This schedule gives me a sort of before sleep ritual to hopefully help me fall asleep easier.

I'm trying to say goodbye to my vices, but that proved difficult when going entirely cold-turkey. As a result, I'm taking it one at a time, and allowing myself the others when I feel I cannot contain myself so I can work on them at a later date. None of them are harmful to my health but they do affect me mentally and they're something I wish to be rid of.

I ordered and received some books a few days ago, The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi and The Art of War by Sun Tzu. I've become enamored with Musashi's writing in specific and have already begun a second read through. In my eyes, the book contains vital help about a part of my life. Specifically Musashi's emphasis on staying calm and level in an encounter is slowly making interacting with the toxic influences in my life far easier. I'll keep reading the books as I feel they've made a genuine impact on my thought process in other ways too.

In other news, I took a nice hike today, I stopped to carve some wood for a few hours before making myself an admittedly pathetic lunch, but it was my first time cooking over a camp stove so I don't blame myself lol

Overall, doing much better than I have in the last few weeks. I hope to see more progress in the future <3