My (Productive) Morning Routine

Hello lovies. For todays post I have decided to do something different and share my morning routine.

Alot of us have been working from home for months now due to the pandemic. I personally have been doing grad school from home since March and I have seen my productivity and motivation take several dips almost to the point of concern.

I realized I needed a change and I knew exactly what to tweak to give myself that much needed boost. So with that said, here is my 4 step productive morning routine which has sure brought back the color to my days and work. Hopefully, it would have the same effect for my readers who try the steps out.

1. Wake up early and Make my Bed

Yes, we’ve all heard this before, but waking up early to start our day has tremendous benefits. I have always been a night owl, but I realized that once I got into the pattern of doing this (waking up between 8:30am to 9am), I was able to sleep much earlier giving my body the needed rest it deserves. Also, this allows me extra hours in the day to be more productive without having to rush.

Another thing I recently incoorporated into my morning routine, is making sure I make by bed right after waking up. Just this act alone makes me feel accomplished first thing in my morning.

2. Pray and or Read my devotional

After step 1, I go ahead to pray and also read my daily devotional. I find that this sets me in the right mindset to carry out my plans for the day. I know this might not be everyone’s cup of tea so feel free to substitute this for whatever calms you down or even gets you pumped for the day. Good examples are meditation, yoga/stretches and a good work out.

3. Shower, Carry out Skincare Routine and get dressed

For me this is a big step in my routine. It is important for me to treat working from home the same way I would if I was working from campus. Taking a shower, diligently carrying out my skincare routine and putting on clean outfits even if its just a tracksuit helps a ton in my productivity.

For reference, I have included a picture of a few of my favorite skincare products (please excuse my very used Cerave moisturizer/sunscreen- shows how much I love it 😉 ). If you’d like more information about this is another post, feel free to leave a comment below.

4. Eat Breakfast

Food literally provides us with fuel needed for the day. So it is important for me to start my day not just by fueling my body with food but with the right kind of meal. Recently I have been gravitating towards a mixed berry smoothie or avocado and eggs on toast.

After carrying out these 4 steps, I have noticed I am very much prepared for the day and my productivity is doubled what it has been in the recent past.

Please let me know in the comments if you’d be trying any or all of these steps and what changes you have noticed after implementing them.

Last night in Florida.

Anger and shame flash through me. I recognize this feeling all too well, yet here I am again. The heat from his breath forms a mist on my neck, my hands are on his chest pushing him away as he attempts to draw me closer towards him.

If there is a time to be happy with the existence of a clutch it is definitely this moment. It feels like the world is closing in on me, Like I am chasing a closing elevator door to freedom and all I can do from preventing the doors from shutting right at my face is flinging my hands through the closing doors in hopes for the best. This clutch felt like my last-ditch hang fling move, it is the only thing separating me from him and preventing the world from collapsing in on me. As I feel he’s tongue try to force open my shut lips I quiver in disgust and ask myself again, how did I get here?

You see I was finally leaving town. After spending two years and six months in the state of Florida, I was more than happy to leave. I had no problem with the city, in fact, I dreaded the idea of leaving behind its endless beach options and over 70-degree weather for a gloomier and grey Midwest city. But I was excited to build new bridges and make even cooler experiences in this new city.

A day to my departure, Bola, who I had known all throughout my stay in Florida and who all my siblings jokingly call my Floridian older brother was helping move my things from my apartment to a friend’s place where I would be spending my last night in Florida. We had finally put the last of my things in the back of his scion and were headed back to my friend’s place. Bola parked his scion backing my friend’s apartment so that the trunk of the car was right next to her front door. At the time I thought he did this to make carrying my things into her place easier. I quickly realized this also shielded him from the apartment’s view.

Both realizing that this might be the last time we’d be seeing each other for a while, we began to say our goodbyes. Mine, although fast was heartfelt as I was anxious to unload my things from his truck and spend some good quality time with my friend. I suddenly realized that he, however, wanted to linger on to his goodbye. His words all of a sudden became slower with each second and I could feel him staring at me. The air within the car changed and I could sense him leaning in towards me, my brain quickly turning as it tried to figure out what was happening and what might perhaps happen next.

I tried to reach for the doors and that’s when he reached out to me and grabbed me by my arm. This is where I find my self this very moment, with Bola a devout born again Christian trying to force his tongue down my throat, breathing all over me and me pushing him away. This continues for what seems like forever. Throughout this time I am sad, surprised, disgusted, infuriated, struggling and resisting with no way to get out of his embrace, out of his car and away from this nightmare. I am in shock, Bola, my Floridian older brother who also has a girlfriend, why is he attempting to slip his hand through my blouse. This thought infuriates me more and I intensify the force I use to push him away. However, I am starting to tire and I realize I may have to either numb everything in me, stay still and wait to its over. Just as I was about to give up he finally stops mumbles some words and offers to help take my things in.

Still in shock but very relieved, I pretend like the last couple of minutes was something out of the ordinary and hurriedly open the doors of his car to freedom. I swiftly take out my items from his car and carry on with my night like I did not get harassed, like I did not have my skin quiver and recoil by that touch, like the man who harassed me wasn’t someone I saw as a friend, a brother even. I push it away too ashamed to think about it or admit it.

It is 1 pm the next day and I am sitting at a gate in the Baltimore-Washington airport waiting for my connecting southwest flight to my destination.
A notification on my phone makes a ping sound, I look at my phone and it is Bola. It reads ‘how was your trip, have you arrived in Ohio? ‘. I know I should ignore him, curse him out, do anything other than pretend like everything is okay, however, I find myself replying these words ‘no not yet, waiting for my connecting flight. Thanks for asking!’.

The Shadow Monster

The shadow monster is back.

I have come to the conclusion that I can never do away with this old friend. Over the last couple of months I have successfully been able to tuck him quite nicely just like sun dried laundry on a Saturday afternoon paying no regards to his rough edges .

I remember how I first came across this unwanted friend. You see growing up kids had imaginary friends. At no older than 5 years old, the shadow monster was certainly not that. Present through out stages of my life, his existence has always been real. It was through a song that he manifested himself to me and just like the African war songs, it drew him out into existence, out of hes connives within my mind. This song was unlike all other songs I had gotten accustomed to at the time. It was a well practiced performance of my life acted out by the very people who where supposed to love me unconditionally. And I had front row seats to every show.

You can understand how I could have easily mistaken the shadow monster as a friend. He gave me the space I badly desired to agonize in myself deeper. Today I know the shadow monster is no friend of mine and although I am aware that I can not totally get rid of him, I am determined however to win back my ground in this on going battle with the shadow monster. I have new friends now and with their help I am able to confine the shadow monster whenever he pokes out his unwanted head to play. The shadow monster came out to play today but I told him I had other plans.

Top Five Things

I woke up feeling extra nostalgic today. There has been a lot of happenings surrounding my personal life outside this blog and for the most part it has been more positives. Going along with this I decided to break out from the norm and do something totally different and talk about the top five things I started this month but I’m kinda already failing at.

You see I’ve recently started binge watching the hit show New Girl and an episode really stood out to me. It was the episode where the character Nick was labeled as not a finisher, basically some one who starts things but never finishes it (not like the episode should stand out…I feel this describes Nick in every episode).

So, in an attempt to hold myself accountable for some of the things I set out at achieving this month but already given up on, I have decided to share it on here.

1. Putting Up Posts More Often

This is kind of a touchy topic. I feel like every time I put up a post I get such an adrenaline rush. I start making plans about how I am going to be the next big book review/lifestyle blogger out there with a huge following base. But then life happens and as much as I would love to elevate my blogging space making it more professional, at the end of the day I am just a girl who loves to write. Writing is like therapy to me and most of the things I write about come from a place of passion and or personal experience. I am still learning to write about things that may seem mundane to me but may be of interest to others.

2. Going Vegan

There is such a big grin on my face as I write on this topic. I can’t really recall how this came about but one minute I was on Instagram, and the next I found myself spending hours on VeggieKins YouTube’s page (basically the typical YouTube experience). I must say, the benefits of going vegan are countless and what most especially stands out to me is the possibility of clearer skin and finally finding a solution to my occasional bloated tummy debacle. To put it nicely, my vegan experience ended up being a massive failure. The last and only attempt was me buying organic almond butter spread in place of peanut butter.

3. Going Out More Often

It’s not that I don’t love going out, it’s just that I’ve been so zoned in trying to accomplish my goals lately and  forgotten that it’s still okay to have fun. No… that’s not completely right. Correction, I love to go out but the company and the place matter’s a whole bunch. I’d rather stay home watch a movie, read a book, bake, cook, chill out with close friends or even catch the game than force myself to go to some choked up space filled with comma inducing smoke and deafening music all in the name of a night out. Again, don’t get me wrong, I love going out and there’s nothing wrong with having fun at a club but in the spirit of top five things, it won’t make my list of favorite hangout things to do.

4. Being Punctual

As I am not really a morning person, I always schedule all my appointments and meetings starting from 10am. This month I tried to be the person who is up by like 5:30am to increase my all round punctuality. To be honest though, my punctuality and productivity has greatly improved and this is one of the few activities that I have successfully carried out.

5. More Devotion Time

Yes, you guessed it I’m Christian. I knew I had to revitalize my Christian life so this month I opted for a real change and sort out the advice of fellow Christians I admire. Something that stood out to me which I have now put into practice is reading a chapter of my bible daily and spending at least 15 minutes of devotion time reflecting on what I’ve read. Aside from missing 2 days since starting this over a week ago, I have really found this helpful and intend on moving onto my 9^th chapter today.

This concludes my top five things I aimed at achieving this month. Feel free to share goals/tasks you may have wanted to accomplish  recently but for one reason or another your still yet to achieve.

The USF seal of approval/ Learning Self Love

Today I received my diploma in the mail. My diploma had just been officially approved Wednesday of last week even though I graduated in August. I have come up with a theory, it won’t be a memorable event if I don’t well Bunny it up‘.

Like most things related to me, I had somehow managed to complicate issues by owing my now Alma mater two dollars and sixty seven cents. Yikes, way to suck off every penny USF.  As you may imagine I am excited to finally hold in my hands proof to one of my newest favorite, yet cringe worthy hashtags #MicrobiologisttoBioinformatician.

I know the question on a lot my readers mind right now may go along these  lines;    “Why do tell bunny what does USF stand for?” Well maybe not in those exact words but a girl is allowed to embellish aren’t I? To indulge my dear readers, the acronym USF stands for the University of South Florida. This large but modest and still growing university is located at the heart of Tampa Florida. While it’s definitely not one of the top universities (ermm not even a top hundred University), it is well known for its research prowls and opportunities available to students all round campus and may I add proud owner of a ranked college football team.

So here I am with my Masters degree in Bioinformatics (do not ask. as it might take a good portion of this post to comprehensively efficiently explain what this program is about) and the reality of the next step/job market is finally sipping in.

During my masters program I had exerted myself into various projects and research opportunities but I had merely tapered my feet on the surface of the deep waters of this field. To make things more complicated, being a national of a different country makes my job prospect a tinsy bit more difficult than the average college graduate. To continue to improve my skills, I have decided to continue this fall with an internship I had over the summer.

A lil bit about me, I don’t do run into you in the lunch room conversations at work. When I’m in the lunch room I just want to heat up my lunch and that’s it unless I run into someone I’m familiar with. Iv’e been trying to change that lately and do the whole let the inner you reflect outwards thing, so I set out to have more awkward lunch room/elevator conversations.

Just the other morning I had a couple of not so bad conversations under my belt and I felt extra good about this new me. While others where trying to act disinterested yet really interested into the free food laid out in the lunch room ( there is no shame in the game people), some lady tried to have a chat with me. I felt so good about my new skills I decided to delve further in to the new me, why not give a witty and smart reply. Save to say I’m still trying to dig up out the whole I buried myself in after that encounter. It was so bad that during a leisurely lunch stroll I ran into this woman yet again, and we both proceeded to be busy. Me on my phone chatting her on an obvious fake phone call.

When it comes down to it though, I think these quirky yet interesting bits about me are what make me who I am and I am absolutely in love them. Over the past couple of months I have been able to see myself in a different light, as my self love increased I have noticed that it’s this little bits about me people seem to be fascinated in the most. It draws them in and makes them want to know me better. And with an improved understanding of this, I am going to keep trying to improve and love myself harder simultaneously. So just a little piece of advice, don’t ever be afraid to bunny things up every now and then.

My Year In Retrospect

Its the early hours of December the 8th, the last day of the fall semester. Isn’t it fitting I write a post today which dear might I add is the last day of finals and the calendar year? After all this is a blog I started with a spur of the moment post on the very last day of Spring semester, I find tradition is a trait that should be carried on. And as me and my blog have successfully come almost to an end of our trip around the sun its ohh so tempting not to write a post of my year in review. I know…I can read your thoughts right now, “not another end of year wordpress blog post” well yeah it is..ermm deal with it.

So I am going to start with school. Moving from my home country to quench my ever flowing thirst of knowledge brought a new spin and look on learning I was so dearly not aware of.  My neuroscience professor wasn’t kidding when she said,  learning is a process by which behavior can be changed as a result of experience and  practice. Although I can not deny the extent to which my library of academic knowledge has surged, another unexpected leap into my year of learning was my realization of people and myself. I’ve learnt that people are who they are and it is not my position to try and bring out the best in them. I have learnt to stop seeking validation from the world and I am still learning not to care what people think of me [almost there]. Good thing is that I am not becoming cold to world and letting my experience get the best of me, I am simply choosing to open my mind to learning and unlearning as life presents each characteristically different learning experience at my feet.

My blog. Well I did not know what to really expect when this journey began. I knew I had an almost magnetic pull towards writing and story telling but for some reason I could never get my self to finish writing anything I started. Well if you are into writing creatively i’m sure you’ve heard this at least once, “write about what you know“. So I decided to start a blog about myself and books [at least I think I know a thing or two about books]. And except for the glaring obvious lack of book reviews, due to the fact that I literally had no time and books are low key expensive, I think I can call my almost first year of blogging a success. Although I have failed to touch base with my blog over the past couple of months I would like to think it’s safe to say that I am back now [although with me you can never tell]. And as much as I would have loved to carry on with my year in retrospect, one of the criticism I got from a fellow reader was my post tend to go on forever [Its not my fault I can write for Africa]  so I decided to write up a general over view of what this year has thought me.

N.B: In lieu of how expensive book are, I am starting my own go fund campaign  right here on wordpress [for books anyway]. You can drop a comment if you are interested in finding a new home for your books and also interested in reading my review of it. I generally gravitate towards modern African literature but any book written and worded intelligently  with a good story line would have me glued.Also drop pointers on interesting topics you’d like me to talk about. My transition to a new country, interracial dating..the election? Anything..Till next time, happy holidays everyone.