How to survive staying at home for 17 days

Seventeen has always been a special number to me — my own lucky number. Edzel and I were officially together on a 17th and got married on the same date as well.

My stint in Canon started on March 17, 2007. Today, October 17, is supposed to be my seventh year and seventh month. However, I am on my 17th day of being a stay-at-home wife (I refuse to call myself unemployed, anymore). So as my own little project, I am listing down the 17 things I learned while, uhh, yes, staying at home.

It is okay to mope. There was a reason why you are now staying at home. Re-focusing your priorities can be tough. But you don’t need to do it on Day 1. It takes time to adjust. Cut yourself a little slack.
Exercise. When I was still working, I had my own little exercise. Dancing (and singing) inside the car while stuck in traffic. Walking from one department to another to discuss something with someone. Going to McDonalds at the Piazza for my morning coffee. I think (I wish) that I burned some calories there. But now, I have to will myself to stand up from my desk (or bed) and do some exercise. I am planning to attend some yoga classes by next week but in the meantime, I have been learning from Adriene. If you do not have the time yet to go to a yoga facility, get to know Adriene and visit her site here. I found her on Youtube and I liked her instantly.

I bet this caught your attention! Haha! Go check her out 🙂
Read a book. Yes. Of all things bright and beautiful. This is probably the thing that I enjoy the most other than writing. Today, I have re-read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn because I could not remember the details anymore. I have a memory of a fish and every time I re-read a book, it is a whole new feeling all over again.

Awesome plot. I wish I have the imagination to write like this. I WISH!
Meditate. I try to do this one hour every day. I have this app called Omvana and they have various meditation “courses” from Overcoming Writer’s Block to centering exercises. It helps me to focus and at the same time, relieve some stress.
Live for the day. I am a planner. I have been doing plans all my life. When I got into corporate, it was even magnified. Event plans. Marketing plans. Name it. Now, my life seems to be at a halt. I could worry about tomorrow. But I have learned not to. Tomorrow will take care of its own. In the meantime, I just do what I have to do for the day.
Learn how to cook. Okay, so I could not yet champion being a housewife because admittedly, the husband still cooks way better food than me but I am trying.

My first successful (read: husband liked it) Beef and Broccoli recipe.
Check out these photo stories in Instagram: @mrscorporatejunkie.
Go outside and walk the dog. Another version of my exercise. Just so I can walk Sachi, my dog, and get us both out of boredom.

Meet Sachi, my forever bored (or sleeping/eating) Labrakita – a half Labrador, half-Akita sweetie.
Organize. Yes. This is the time to do it. I organized all the important documents, the closet, anything I could get a hold of.
Make a to-do list. If you think that only corporate people should do this, you are wrong. Crossing out items in your to-do list can give you a sense of accomplishment. Go and make one today.
Go outside and see friends. Because I have all the time in my hands, I have become kaladkarin. Whenever someone wants to have lunch, I am all game. Haha! Gives me more time to connect with friends than ever before.
Write. Write for the sake of writing. Write like there’s no tomorrow. If you love writing, you don’t need any other reason to write except for the love of writing itself.
Take naps. This was one of the many advice of my Ninong. I need to remind myself to take things slower compared to when I was working. I sometimes forget. So I made it a point to take a catnap every afternoon.
Take a bath. Sometimes, staying at home can be so comfortable. Just to spike me up in the morning, I do my usual routine when I was still working. Wake up early, have breakfast, take a bath. It makes me a little more productive.
Eat at the right time. When you are at a corporate setting, there are scheduled breaks. Morning breaks, lunch breaks, afternoon breaks. It fixes your rhythm quite efficiently. When you have noone to have lunch with, it can get pretty lonely. But heck, that would still be better than causing yourself a really bad hunger pang or worse, some crazy migraine.
Be involved in something. Being alone for most parts of the day (especially for someone like me who have no kids yet) can be unnerving. Noone to talk to. Noone to interact with. The good thing about technology and the Internet is that it now gives us the freedom to connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Now, I am a member of several groups and am quite active in some of the forums. Haha!
Play a music. Again, the worst noise you can ever encounter is silence. Play some music. For now, I love how expansive Spotify is. Whatever mood I am in, they got it covered.
Learn when to stop. This I have to really put into action. Since I just stay at home, the things I work on are just around me (literally), I have the tendency to linger until late night. This actually loses the whole point of slowing down.