Hello Steemians!
Yesterday has been a mentally challenging day, and I believe that my experience is worth sharing with our fellow Steemians. I hope that those of you who are reading this can learn important lessons about life, and most importantly you learn to be truly happy!
Breaking Down My Day:
I was up early at 1am, because I wanted to leave as many comments on Steemit as possible. This was my strategy to earn upvotes and build reputation when I had a score of 0 the day before yesterday. For those of you who are unaware, users require 10 reputation score in order to upload your own content onto Steemit. For users who have 0 or less reputation, all of your comments will be kept hidden to reduce your visibility.
This is extremely challenging because people will rarely be willing to check out comments that are hidden due to low rating. However being optimistic as always, I was ready to take up the challenge and my reputation score via tons of high-quality comments. Then came the surprise by 
Immediately after that, I started working on a new post detailing my experience of getting flagged on Steemit. I believe that I need to share my experience with everyone because I have learnt many valuable lessons from it, and that these lessons will be useful for the rest should the need arises.
It took me about 3 hours to complete the post, and it was about 7am in the morning when I was done posting the article. I quickly freshen up myself to prepare for my medical studies. Thankfully there were no classes today, so I stayed back at home to study on my own.
Besides studying, I was also taking care of my girlfriend who was down with URTI (Upper Respiratory Tract Infection). Since I am a medical student, please allow me to do a quick PSA (Public Service Announcement) about URTI so that you know what to do if you have it in the future:
Source: Giphy
URTI are recent infections of your upper respiratory tract (the nose, sinuses, pharynx and larynx). Common illnesses that all of us has experienced before include 'blocked nose' (nasal obstruction), sore throat and common cold.
Here's a list of typical symptoms for URTI:
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Runny nose
- Nose block
- Sneezing
- Headache
- Tiredness
- Low-grade fever (37° C to 38° C)
If you have 3 or more of the above symptoms, it is likely that you are having URTI.
Source: Giphy
Even if you do, there is nothing to worry about. Here's what you should do to recover:
- Get plenty of rest. Sleep as much as you can, and do not exert yourself with work or strenuous physical activities (like heavy exercises).
- Drink plenty of water. Our body needs to be kept hydrated at all times. It is common for us to drink less water when we have URTI due to the unbearable sore throat, however we must resist the urge to avoid pain by not drinking and continue drinking throughout the day! A well hydrated body is a body ready for full recovery!
- See a family doctor. If you are still having the symptoms after a week, or that you don't feel that you're getting better, I suggest that you visit a family doctor. It is best that we allow the professionals to examine us thoroughly to keep our health in check. If you do indeed have more than just a common cold, isn't it better for the doctor to treat you rather than you not knowing what to do?
Alright, back to me and my day. My girlfriend and I had a simple lunch at home, then we headed out to the city council's branch office to pay our parking fine.
Source: Giphy
RM100 (about $24) gone. Just like that. Due to illegal parking.
Then we had another meal (or just lunch, again) near the branch office at 2pm. After that, we went back home around 3pm and I resume studying while my girlfriend went to bed because she needed rest.
Study, study, study! I do attend to my girlfriend's needs whenever she needed me (like getting glasses of water etc.) Then dinner time...
We went out to a nearby cafe for dinner at 7pm. It's been a really long time since we last went to Peekaboo, so it did feel somewhat nostalgic for me. Food was slightly disappointing, because it tasted better in my memories of it.
What really made my day was that my girlfriend felt much better by the time we had dinner! She was back to being her usual self - funny, cheeky and loving altogether! Here are some photos that we took together:
Lesson of The Day:
The biggest lesson that I have learnt today is about understanding my priorities.
Even though my exams are just around the corner, I was willing to take the time out to take care of my girlfriend because she needed me. Trust me, this wasn't the only time where I had to make a choice: to study now or to do (something else) now?
The same goes for you too - perhaps in a different context: to do work now or to do (something else) now?
In life, we do have multiple responsibilities to bear such as work, family, relationships, hobbies etc. but we only have 24 hours to spare. In order to maximize our time and activities, it is very important for us to prioritize.
Source: Giphy
How can you prioritize?
#1 Understand your values, by asking yourself: What is important to you? When we do not understand our values, it is difficult for us to align ourselves with them. This leads to unhappiness and emptiness (like how most people feel when it comes to their work or spouse).
It is important for us to understand our values because they function as are our inner compass, guiding our conscience in everything that we do. Hence, we can only be truly happy when we understand exactly what our values are and live our lives according to these values.
#2 Understand your context, by asking yourself: What is urgent right now? There will be times where something is important, but it may not be urgent compared to a task that you need to complete right away. For example: My girlfriend's wellbeing is more important to me than my studies, so usually I will take care of her the entire time. However, my exams are just around the corner (my context) hence I need to make time to study or I'll fail.
Hence, I spent more time during the day studying while still taking care of my girlfriend.
#3 The final question to ask yourself before you decide to do anything, ANYTHING!!
Are you going to regret (in the future) doing this if this doesn't work out?
Regret is one of the worst self-inflicted toxic in life, and I always ensure that I do not regret my decisions. If you decide to do something and you feel that you might regret it in the future, don't do it. Even if it's the slightest chance for you to regret your choice, it's a warning sign that you should not be making that choice!
Reflection
I hope that you can explore deep within yourself and have clarity about your values, because these inherently determine your happiness in life.
Only those of us who can align our lifestyle with our values, are able to experience long-lasting happiness.
Sincerely from,
M