Cucumber Water

I’m having my quarter-life crisis. I know what you’re thinking, that seems a little young, however, this is the oldest I’ve been and it was time to have a crisis. I am in the midst of wondering if I will ever write anything memorable, how I can continue my career as a bedside nurse and hopefully go back to school and be an educator if I will have more kids if I will get married, how I will afford a house if I don’t stop eating avocado toast...and so on. As you can tell, there’s a bit on my mind. Oh, and by the way, I’m actually in Gen Z not a millennial, so I’m just completely at a loss of who I am. All the things I want to be. As I was eating chocolate dipped in Trader Joe’s version of Nutella on the couch watching Grey’s Anatomy for the tenth time, I knew a change would be necessary.

This change would be in my daily habits. You see, what you do today will indubitably affect the future days. That means I can’t keep #yoloing my life away. I can’t understand I have a problem and just say, “it be that way sometimes”, without facing these issues. It means addressing this chip on my shoulder around the circumstances of my existence and actually actively participating in my life. This was a drastic undertaking, but if anyone was ready for a change it was the girl staring at me in the mirror. Not to mention my little girl who would model my behaviors based on what she sees and what she hears. As you can tell, change was a must.

I started by making small steps. I want you to hear me when I say this, a small step for me is a giant leap for my future. I decided to really make this exciting and eco-friendly and minimalism was added to my to-do list and I had to make my adjectives fit those descriptions. I am always up for a challenge. Challenge one, drink more water; not water from a water bottle but tap water, or if I’m feeling fancy, filtered water from my Brita filters in the fridge. However, I hate water. So I added cucumber slices or mint. Let me tell you, there is nothing quite as fancy as mint water in your own fridge. This particular venture has freed up some of my budget as well as made me hydrated as fuck. This may sound silly to hear but hear me out. This one adjective has tackled all my descriptors, and if I can do it once I can do it again.

Momentum, I was gaining and Isaac Newton’s laws told me that I must continue on this trend. I was unstoppable. I decided to get my grocery habits in check. How much produce was I throwing out weekly, not to mention how many times I buy random things I never eat. The answer is unfathomable. How dare I add to the food crisis and act so selfish. Therefore I subscribed to Hello Fresh (don’t worry I will not shamelessly plug my code in here for you to try it). This works for me, however, it may not be the best for you. However, after reading their 23-page sustainability report, I was happy to subscribe. All I had to do was chose two to three snacks to fill in the gaps and I was set. I was getting my shit together, one topic at a time.

Finally, it was time to take a look at my most valuable asset. My time. I was pretty laisse fare about my time, not to mention the amount of time I spent doing the most unimportant things. I decided to check how my time was being used and spent. Social media, out. Vocal, in. I want to be a career woman and a mother. How does one make the time to do both? Turns out I was already taking the steps to do that, I was budgeting so I could make sure I wasn’t overworking. I was looking after my health and my environmental impact. All in all, I took a look at my bucket list and realized they were these dreams that in the end wouldn’t have matters if my day-to-day wasn’t taken care of. I have so many things to continue to change and fix but with every small step, I am closer to the life I want to live. A life I don’t have to try and escape from. I have a life that controls the chaos and puts at the forefront the ideas that matter. I have time to write, I have time to be with my child uninterrupted, I have a budget that puts my future first. Not to mention, I am debt-free, and that in itself is personal freedom I couldn’t put a price on. I no longer have a bucket list, I live my life the way I want, the way I need. I have to say, thank you cucumber water.