100 Days Of Doing Better - Blog Posts

~✧°+* 10/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

09.08.2023

10% done with the challange!

I finally got to analyzing the poem I wanna write my essay on. I had a blast! I love writing essays and enjoy pretty much every step of the process, but working with primary texts still is my favourite. It reminds me why I decided to study English literature.

I also continued reading All Quiet on the Western Front. I really love this book and should manage to finish it by the end of the week. Maybe I'll check out some of Remarque's other books!

Positive things I did today:

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

studied at the library

went for a walk

read outside

went to a café to relax after studying

Hours slept: ~9hrs 3mins Screentime: 3hrs 30mins Steps taken: ~6.600

08.08.2023

Trying really hard to get in the groove again. The anxiety and dread that comes with my approaching deadlines is not helping in that regard.

Positive things I did today:

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

cooked a warm meal

went on a walk

literature research for one of my essays

continued reading All Quiet on the Western Front

Hours slept: ~8hrs Screentime: 3hrs Steps taken: ~5.700

~✧°+* 8/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

07.08.2023

All three of these pictures were taken on the same walk. The weather has been crazy lately. It is so cold for August.

Today was a really nice day! Managed to get quite a few things done while keeping a nice balance of productivity and me-time.

Positive things I did today:

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

got groceries

picked up something from my Prof's office

found more possible secondary sources for my essay

cooked a warm meal

went on a walk

Hours slept: ~7hrs 30mins Screentime: 5hrs Steps taken: ~11.300

~✧°+* 8/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

06.08.2023

Managed to have a really, really good Sunday!

It was a nice combination of productivity and leasure. Went out to get coffee with a friend in the afternoon and managed to get some work for my essay done. Very, very minor things, but I managed to come up with a working thesis for now. More research will show if I can use it.

We also found these Sailor Moon sodas! Our little weeb heart jumped at that.

My friend also introduced me to notion. I'm still a bit overwhelmed by it but managed to set up one page and it's a lot of fun! Maybe I'll show it off once I have more to show

Positive things I did today:

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

went out for coffee with a friend

made progress on essay research

cooked a warm meal

set up a notion page

Hours slept: ~9hrs 30mins Screentime: 4hrs 30mins Steps taken: ~4.100

~✧°+* 7/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

05.08.2023

Another not so great day. Sometimes bad days, unproductive days, days that make you feel sad and lonely, just pile up. Sometimes you have four, five, twelve of them right back to back, and sometimes you have none for months. But regardless of how frequent they are, eventually they'll pass and you'll go back to calm days, to productive days, to happy days.

Positive things I did today:

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

called my parents

did the laundry

tried baking cookies (and failed horribly)

played minecraft with a friend

Hours slept: ~7hrs Screentime: 6hrs Steps taken: ~900

~✧°+* 6/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

04.08.2023

A very uneventful day. I had a slow morning and around noon I was hit by a panic attack out of nowhere. It took me quite a while to calm down from it and after I decided to take it slow instead of trying to force productivity.

Taking a day off or taking a break is still productive if it helps you stay functional in the long run!

Other than that I wrote like half a poem and went on a very long walk at night.

Positive things I did today:

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

went for a walk

attended a meeting for a tutoring job

Hours slept: ~8hrs Screentime: 6hrs Steps taken: ~7.700

~✧°+* 6/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

03.08.2023

A very eventful but also very nice day! Sadly tho, despite spending quite some time working, I made very little progress on things :') The paper I have to write is for a class on astronomy and the heavens in early modern literature nad it's proven super hard to find a topic that provides me with enough secondary reading... I alos have to admit that I am not the best at working with poetry. I am a prose girlie, a short story girly, perhaps a drama girly. But the topic I am leaning towards at the moment is in relation to a poem we've read... I'm hoping to make a decission on that soon :/

I've also really been loving All Quiet on the Western Front. My friend pointed out how much this book is not a light hearted summer read and - well - they're right. But it's keeping me engaged and excited to read, so I won't complain!

Positive things I did today:

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

had a study date at the library

read in the morning and in the evening

got coffee with a friend

cooked a warm meal

did (part of) the laundry

scheduled a meeting

Hours slept: ~8hrs Screentime: 4hrs 45mins Steps taken: ~7.800

~✧°+* 5/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

02.08.2023

And, just like this, we are back in the groove.

After a slow start to the day i managed to get some important tasks done. No progress on essays I need to write, but I've made plans to meet up with a friend at the library tomorrow, so I hope I'll make some progress then.

I edited an essay for my professor and nearly went crazy over it. I enjoy editing a lot and I am very grateful I get to take part in a project, even if it's just in a really small way. But got damn, that one was not pleasant to work through. It used a citation style I am not very familiar with and then didn't even use that one consistently. I had to ask the other student assistant for help. He's been doing the job for a while and he's being very patient and nice, but it was quite anxiety inducing. I am very grateful for his help, tho, and I hope I'm not causing him too much of a hassle.

Besides that today was just more of the usual. Watched Peaky Blinders and am currently getting some reading in before bed.

Positive things I did today:

kept the duolingo spanish streak going

cooked a meal

got some admin work done

did edeting

watched Peaky Blinders with a friend

continued reading All Quiet on the Western Front

Hours slept: ~9hrs Screentime: 7hrs Steps taken: ~100 (very rainy, no walk for me :(( )

~✧°+* 4/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

01.08.2023

This has turned from a getting my life together challenge into a 'How can I fuel my Cillian Murphy obsession most efficiently?' challenge. Needless to say, I continued watching Peaky Blinders with my friend (daily Tommy Time, as we like to call it). But that's okay, because this Tuesday was rest day and now I am rested and shall try to get back into the groove.

I also recently found out about the Magical Readathon hosted by Book Roast over on YouTube. I doubt I'll actualy finish it, but I'll at least try to make use of the reading motivation I got from it. So far I've read the first 60 or so pages if Im Westen nichts neues (All Quiet on the Western Front in English). I really like it so far. It's sad (obviously) but I like that in books. And once I've finished it I can also finally watch the movie.

Positive things I did today:

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

cooked two warm meals

went for a walk and read at a café

finished season 1 and started season 2 of Peaky Blinders with my friend

Hours slept: ~9hrs Screentime: 7hrs 30mins (how did I spend 4hrs on WhatsApp??) Steps taken: ~5.600

~✧°+* 4/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

31.07.2023

Another late update. I hope I get into the habbit of posting these before bed again, it rounds off the day very nicely.

The exam went well! It took me a while because I struggle with staying focused a lot, but I believe we ended up with something presentable!

I didn't do too much besides the exam. In the evening I went for a walk and got Young Mungo. I wanted a Mieko Kawakami book but I want to read her writing in German and they didn't have the German editions. So I went with another one I've been eyeing for a while!

Positive things I did today:

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

took my history of witch hunts exam

went for a walk

got a pizza (as a treat)

bought a book I've been meaning to read for a while

continued watching Peaky Blinders with my friend

Hours slept: ~8hrs Screentime: 7hrs Steps taken: ~4.300

~✧°+* 4/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

30.07.2023

Not the greatest day, which becomes evident when you take a look at my screen time. But that's alright, because sadness is temporary and there are a thousand things that make life beautiful.

I cheered up a bit in the evening and started watching Peaky Blinders with a friend. Needless to say, Oppenheimer has impacted us in a certain way.

Positive things I did today:

kept the Duolingo Spanish streak going

finished history of witch hunts revision

did the dishes

Hours slept: ~8hrs Screentime: 11hrs (actually mortified at this) Steps taken: ~220

~✧°+* 3/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

29.07.2023

I had such a nice dream tonight. All my favourite people and things were there and waking up from it felt like a crime. But instead of mourning my perfect dream-reality I tried to bring that positive energy into my day instead.

And I think it worked! For the most part at least.

My positive outlook from yesterday definitely carried over into today and I mnaged to get a lot of things done. Didn't quite finish my revision but what's left over should be managable to wrap up tomorrow.

It seems like I'm riding a bit of a high at the moment. I really hope it stays that way for a while or at least evens out at a median instead of having me crash in a few days - but we'll see.

Positive things I did today:

continued history of witch hunts revision

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

took out the trash

went out to the post office and picked up my new planner

went grocery shopping

baked (and ate) brownies

studied before breakfast

Hours slept: ~9hrs Screentime: 3hrs 30mins Steps taken: ~4.500

~✧°+* 2/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

28.07.2023

This day was a bit all over the place.

I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but I'd say it was a succesful day none the less. I got to spend some quality time with a friend and that's worth a lot to me.

For all that it's worth, I'm actually really excited for studying tomorrow. I'm making progress on the witch hunt revision and it's starting to be fun. Hopefully I'll finish my summary of the slides tomorrow.

Positive things I did today:

cooked a balanced meal

continued history of witch hunts revision

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going (very last minute tho)

handed some books in at the library

spent time with a friend

watched a movie (Schatten in meinen Augen / The Bombardment on Netflix; very sad)

Hours slept: ~7hrs 10mins Screentime: 5hrs 30mins Steps taken: ~7.600

~✧°+* 1/100 days of doing better*+°✧~

27.07.2023

It's been very rainy and quite cold for the season here and the drastic change in weather (it was incredibly hot and humid before temperatures dropped) really affects me. I've been sleeping a lot more than usual which makes being productive difficult.

I try not to beat myself up about not getting things done easiely; or not getting things done at all. Instead, I take breaks when I feel like I need them and try getting back to work once I've had a little rest. And that seems to be working (somewhat).

I got a history exam this coming monday which I've barely done anything for. It's open book, so I hope it'll go alright reagrdless but I'll still try to revise all the slides over the weekend.

Positive things I did today:

did the dishes first thing in the morning

finished work for my professor

started revising history of witch hunts notes

went grocery shopping

kept the duolingo Spanish streak going

enjoyed an iced coffee while playing some animal crossing new horizons

Hours slept: ~9hrs 30min

Screentime: 6hrs 10min

Steps taken: ~4.800

~✧°+* 100 days of doing better *+°✧~

I have seen various versions of these 100-day-challenges floating around and decided I wanted to try it out as well!

Instead of just doing "100 days of productivity" or "100 days of studying", however, I decided on coming up with a version of this challenge that better fits my life and caters towards my personal goals more effectively.

100 days of doing better combines efforts to improve academically (through studying and working on assignments), to improve my daily life (through keeping on top of chores and managing my living spaces), my social life (through taking breaks and spending time with friends) as well as efforts ot improve my mental health (through doing things I like, indulging in hobbies and taking a step back if I need it).

Some specific goals I would like to achieve/do in these 100 days:

start studying Spanish more seriously

read at least 2-5 books for fun

cut down on social media/phone time

start the first draft for a story I have been meaning to write

try new recipes and cook a meal once a day

start research on possible BA thesis topics

get out of the house once a day

find an internship for the next semester break

meet up with friends from school at least once

declutter my closet

If you like this version of the challange feel free to join me!

Either way, I hope we'll spend the coming 100 days making the best of out lives <3