5 Tiny Life Upgrades That Cost $0
Living a life of quality doesn’t have to cost anything
#1. YouTube
Don’t quote me on this but probably 99% of the people you know use YouTube as a platform for their entertainment. Some use it for knowledge or tutorials on matters they don’t understand. But even fewer use it to benefit themselves.
I’m talking about replacing your gym subscription with Youtube videos.
This trend started during the pandemic. And now, there are so damn many home workout videos on YouTube now that you can’t even finish all of them if you just do one a day. What’s even better is that most of them don’t require you to have any equipment at all. Maybe just a dumbbell and an exercise mat. But that’s it, you can train whenever and from wherever you want.
Callisthenics!
You don’t need sets of iron to be strong or get in shape or reach hypertrophy, your body is a weight itself. Your muscles are dumb, they can’t tell if it’s iron or your bodyweight. Use that to your advantage. There’s no need to remind you of the benefits of exercising every day. So no more excuses.
#2. Mailbrew
I absolutely hate it when some companies somehow managed to get my email and choose to send me a tonne of random information that I don’t want. I don’t want to have to sift through all the noise just to find the important emails, I only want to see the important ones.
Here’s how I counter that.
First, if you want to remove all newsletters from your email, just filter the word “unsubscribe” and it will give you every newsletter that you have. Spare a few minutes to ‘Marie Kondo’ your email once in a while. Our emails get thrown around so much that it often ends up with information that we don’t need.
Second, use a software called mailbrew. This thing basically grabs all your favourite sources and hand them to you on a silver platter. For example, it will take from Reddit threads, Twitter accounts, newsletters or even Google news, compile it and then send it all to you in one email.
#3. The Blue Light Filter Button
Toggle that!
You simply cannot perform at your best without sufficient sleep and blue light is proven to affect our sleep more than any colour on the spectrum. It messes with your body’s ability to secrete a chemical called melatonin.
This blue light filter button is built into almost every phone on the market right now. Google how to toggle it. Automate it so that it only turns on at night (this light has some benefits during the day).
Alternatives:
Not free but it wouldn’t cost that much to get a blue light screen protector.
Don’t look at any screens at all for an hour before you sleep. Pick up a book or an instrument instead.
#4. Saying it’s Okay
Each morning, you wake up thinking about how you’re going to tackle the issue at hand and how good you’ll feel after accomplishing them. You start the day with a cup of coffee and spend the rest in front of that blue light-emitting screen.
One task after another, you’re feeling great, but the moment your eyes are off the screens, the sun wasn’t there anymore. And you hear that grumbling sound resonating from your belly. You’re famished.
The Reality
It’s 7 pm and you haven’t left your table since that 8 am cup of instant coffee. No food or water went into your body since. You had no idea how this time went by and question if you had gotten kidnapped by some time-bending aliens.
You do this almost every single day because you’re on a semester break and you have nothing better to do anyway. You pride yourself on working until you physically can’t anymore every day, thinking you’re working on yourself when your peers are Netflix-ing and doom scrolling.
The Burnout
Just after a few weeks of 14-hour days, you get your first burn out. You tell yourself that you just needed a break. Just take it a little bit slower and it’ll be fine.
Surprise! You were back on track in just two days of taking it slower than usual. The 14-hour days lives! Back to conquering the world.
The Cycle
A few more weeks and you get your second burn out. This one took a few more days to recover. But then you got back on your foot just as soon as you physically can. Well, as long as your eyes are not burning, you still have it in you to keep going, right?
The semester starts, but you wanted to keep up with your previous pace because it would mean that you “became lazy” if you didn’t. So you ended up working even more hours than usual. You’ve sacrificed your friends and family so that you could work on “your dreams” as you call it. You’re on a quest.
Four years later, you’re still on this quest. Lost for directions and completely drained of motivation to keep going. But you don’t want to give up. That would mean all those burnouts, sleepless nights, and sacrifices you made were for nothing.
Deep down, you know that this road has most likely ended. And really, the only thing left for you to do is to let go.
The Solution — Release What You Can’t Control
The pain, the anger, the disappointment, they were all real. But you simply cannot force or hold on to something that isn’t meant for you. The “hustle culture” is toxic when not implemented appropriately, you need to rest, have enough sleep, and sharpen your saw once in a while.
The slow burn will hurt you much more than facing the truth ever will. Your effort hasn’t gone to waste at all. The skills you learned along the way will become the tools for another battle.
Letting go doesn’t mean giving up.
It means that you accept the fact that some things just aren’t meant to be or that maybe the time is not right. Letting go of what you wanted to have happened takes courage. You’re surrendering control to the universe. You have to, for yourself.
Because if you don’t, it’s going to become baggage. The more items you don’t let go of, the heavier the baggage. Before you know it, you’d find yourself anchored to the ground with no strength to push forward.
It’s okay. Severe ties and burn bridges if you have to. Nothing too bad is going to happen and you’ll figure it out. I promise.
Free yourself from both the past and the future.
It’s okay to take a break sometimes.
It’s okay if things just didn’t work out like you thought they would.
It’s okay if a career path didn’t pan out.
It’s okay if a relationship didn’t work.
It’s okay to leave that grudge behind.
It’s okay to not be in control once in a while.
It’s okay to take a break.
It’s okay to not be perfect.
It’s okay to want more.
It’s okay to let go.
You’ve given it your everything, and that’s everything we can do, really.
The world is intertwined among billions of threads of effects and causes. Just because something went wrong, doesn’t mean it’s your fault. Have faith that every story has a happy ending. That the universe has better plans for you. If you haven’t had yours yet, that simply means that it’s just a plot twist.
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
#5. Switch Off the News
Keep yourself updated on what’s going on in the world. But you definitely don’t need to hear another story about the side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccines.
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We Never Really Recovered From the 2008 Economic Crisis
Disclaimer: This is an extremely simplified version as I don’t want to bore you with the details. I am not a financial advisor and this is not financial advice. Most of this is speculation as information about the “behind-the-scenes” of mega-banks is very limited.
By Marcus Chan5 years ago in Trader
Ezomindus
In a valley where silence grew like silver grass, And the mountains seemed to hold their breath, There lived a soul whose name no map could claim—Ezomindus. He was no king of armies, no lord of stone halls, But a traveler of thought, a seeker of questions, A spark that refused to bow to fear or certainty. Ezomindus was born on a night When the moon hung low, swollen with mystery, And the wind whispered secrets through the cracks of the world. The elders, wise yet fearful, said, “This child will wander paths unknown, And his thoughts may burn like fire.” The stars, however, had their own counsel: “This child will wonder, And in his wondering, awaken others.” From his first breath, he listened—not just to people, But to the heartbeat beneath the soil, The rhythm of rivers carving their patient paths, The quiet ache of shadows folding over themselves. He heard the sorrow hidden inside laughter, The longing beneath simple words, The unspoken truths between two people’s eyes. While the villages built houses of brick and pride, Ezomindus built bridges of questions. “Why does the river never hold its shape?” he asked. “Why does the flame dance even as it dies?” “Why does the heart ache for what it cannot name?” His questions were neither rude nor loud; They were gentle arrows of thought, Piercing the illusions of routine and comfort. He wandered through forests older than memory, Where trees leaned close as if to hear him think. Roots twisted like ancient riddles, Leaves shimmered with the dust of forgotten stars. “Everything changes,” the trees whispered, “Even the one who asks.” Ezomindus was not afraid of change. He feared the stillness that numbed the mind. He saw cities wrapped in golden noise, People chasing shadows of approval, Running toward mirrors that reflected only themselves. He whispered to them softly, “Your chains are not iron—they are thoughts You never dared to examine.” Some laughed. Some scowled. Some left. A few felt something stir inside, A small trembling recognition of a mind not yet free. He carried no sword, yet battled storms of doubt. He climbed mountains that seemed to pierce the sky, Where air thinned into honesty, And only the purest thoughts could survive. At the summit, there was no throne, No crown, no prize—only a mirror of ice. In that mirror, he saw himself Not as hero nor as failure, But as a river of becoming. His courage and his fear flowed together, His wounds glimmered like constellations, His mind stretched out like the horizon itself. He understood at last: To conquer the world is smaller than conquering the mind. So he descended, carrying no gold, No trophies, no scrolls of fame, Only awareness. He spoke in marketplaces, empty fields, In the hush of midnight and the blaze of noon. “Do not fear the darkness,” he said. “It is the canvas upon which your light can paint.” As years passed, Ezomindus did not grow old in spirit. His eyes remained young with curiosity, His voice tender with truth. Children gathered around him, Drawn to the way he asked questions Instead of offering answers. “What is strength?” one child asked. He smiled and replied, “Strength is choosing truth Even when lies are easier, Even when the world calls for silence.” “What is freedom?” another asked. He touched the soil, the roots, the wind. “Freedom,” he said softly, “Is seeing your own thoughts Without becoming their prisoner.” “And what is love?” they asked. He paused, feeling the wind trace his weathered face. “Love,” he said, “Is the courage to let another soul breathe, To honor their mind as you honor your own, To walk beside them without claiming their journey.” Ezomindus became a legend, Not of battles won or lands conquered, But of minds awakened. He did not build empires of stone; He built awakenings, Invisible yet eternal, A revolution of thought, quiet yet unstoppable. When his final evening came, The sky blazed in amber farewell, And the valley seemed to lean closer in sorrow. He lay beneath the same moon That had watched his first breath. Around him stood those Who had once been lost in noise, Now awake to the rhythm of their own hearts. “Master,” they whispered, “What remains when you are gone?” Ezomindus looked at them, At their trembling hope, At their eyes opening wide to their own truths. “I remain,” he said, “In every thought you dare to examine, In every fear you face with courage, In every moment you wake instead of drift asleep.” His breath faded like a candle surrendering to dawn, Yet the valley did not grow silent. It hummed with awareness, Alive with the minds he had stirred. Ezomindus was never a body— He was a question set on fire, A space between impulse and reflection, A courage to look within. He was the whisper that said: Do not live asleep. Do not fear the depths of your own mind. For the greatest journey Is not across oceans or stars— It is through the vast, uncharted realm Of your own consciousness. Long after, children would trace his steps in the forest, Listening to the trees, to the rivers, Learning to see the unseen. They carried no scrolls, no crowns, Only the seed of questioning he had planted, A spark that refused to die. And so Ezomindus lives, Not in stone or story, But in every mind that dares to pause, Every heart that dares to reflect, Every soul that refuses to sleep While the world drifts blindly onward. For life is fleeting, And the noise of the world can drown the quiet, But the mind that awakens is eternal. Ezomindus taught this: To live is to be aware, To be aware is to be free, To be free is to walk the endless path Of truth, courage, and love. And somewhere, when the wind bends the silver grass And the moon hangs low like a question, A voice stirs inside the restless heart: “Do not live asleep. Do not fear your own depths. For the greatest journey Is not across oceans or stars— It is through the vast, uncharted Realm of your own mind.” Ezomindus is not gone— He is the question set on fire, The mind that will not sleep, The whisper inside every heart That chooses awareness over comfort, Courage over fear, Truth over illusion. And the valley, ever alive, Breathes on, Shimmering with the light of a mind awake.
By The best writer about 17 hours ago in Motivation
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