My sister moved home about half a year ago after she got laid off from her SF job. It wasn’t out of necessity; if you’re a SWE and you’re in financial trouble after getting laid off with all that severance, it’s really your own fault. She just had enough of SF. I once asked her something along the lines of “do you think SF is screwed” and she said yeah. Well, SF’s condition is besides the point.

So there’s that Pina Colada song (Escape, by Rupert Holmes):

If you like piña coladas
And gettin’ caught in the rain
If you’re not into yoga
If you have half a brain
…
Yes, I like piña coladas
And gettin’ caught in the rain
I’m not much into health food
I am into champagne

This is like the opposite of whatever my sister is doing, and I keep thinking about it. She’s started getting up early to gym, coming back around 7:30am. She goes to bed at like 9pm or so. I’m pretty sure she wakes up and does yoga or something. She has a few cookbooks and they’re all about health. I’m not talking about the normal stuff like making sure you have protein and greens in every meal; I’m talking “whenever anyone eats anything she makes, the first thing they say is ‘it tastes healthy’”. We got random supplements for days. I mean, I just don’t know anyone else who takes… beef liver?

We already know this, but environment truly has an effect. I think her sleeping at around 9pm lets me sleep at around 10:30 or 11 without trying too hard. I get up at around 7am every day (to align with the shuttle to work), so that works pretty well for me. Otherwise, I end up sleeping around midnight and being tired during the workday. Whatever healthy thing my sister makes probably has a positive effect on my health, too. I appreciate that. I want to say 20% of my sister’s health nuttiness rubs off on me, which is enough to make me a functional person without going too hard. Seeing people in the household exercise consistently (when we were previously a 0-exercise family) makes it easier for me to do my thing.

I think being “boring people” is alright though. Being quirky and whimsical about not liking so-and-so isn’t a personality trait, though such intentional unseriousness probably appeals to most people who don’t have it figured out. Don’t you know? Taking care of yourself and working towards your long-term core values is actually rewarding and fulfilling. Indulging all the time doesn’t breed contentment. Well, the song is fun to sing without really liking the characters.

I know a few people who just go on social media or idle in their free time outside of work, and I just cannot imagine that. It’s really a “damn bitch you live like this?” moment. I casually mentioned it to my friend from high school and she said, “Why do you need to be on your phone through all your downtime? Why can’t you sit with yourself?” (not to me, but to those people I was talking about). It reminds me of how Dr. K mentioned addiction treatment (psychotherapy) is rooted in emotional healing and not forcing abstinence from a particular substance. So, why can’t you sit with yourself?