How to Stay Healthy/Fit During Quarantine

Motivation. I’ve published many blog posts that are related to the topic of motivation. Oftentimes, these posts focused on motivation to work, motivation to be more productive, etc.. Motivation is crucial in our everyday lives, but many people do not have the endurance or perseverance to push through and achieve their goals. Exercising is difficult, especially with no one to push you. With so many temptations, like the couch and the TV, the reason to go through the pain and hardship seems to diminish.

Not working out at all, however, is unhealthy. Even if you never exercised before quarantine, without even knowing it, you probably were active. For example, as a student, I walked at least 6000 steps daily just at school. That was my step count with no physical education or sport at school. Since I constantly walked around at school, I was able to get some sort of exercise. However, now, quarantine forced many people to stay at home, getting rid of any reason to walk around all day. This is why I started to workout and was able to gather some tips in the process.

1. YouTube

Many people go to the gym to workout. And there are quite a lot of people who have personal trainers telling them what to do. The benefit of having a personal trainer is that you can’t give up for the sole reason of being tired. The trainers push you harder and have structured plans. In simple terms, the only tough part is the exercise itself, rather than finding the motivation.

However, most gyms are closed now, so there needs to be another way to workout and to push ourselves. The best way, I realized, is to find a at-home workout on YouTube. Then, I would copy the workouts exactly the way the YouTuber in the video does them. Yes, just following those workouts may be no different from just creating our own workout routine to follow. However, the difference is the motivation we can get.

When I watch the videos, I think to myself, If they can do it, why can’t I?. Since the trainers in the video pushed themselves to film the video, it lets me know that I am capable of finishing the routine. It also motivates me to keep the same pace as them, which makes me workout more efficiently.

2. Music

A big reason people do not like to workout is because of the pain. It is so hard to hold a plank for 2 minutes. It is so hard to do 50 squats. However, this mindset makes it more difficult to finish the workout and makes the person hate working out even more. I found that having some sort of distraction can get my mind off the pain.

A good solution I found was listening to music I like while working out. If I focus on the song (the lyrics and the beats), rather than how hard the workout is, the workout suddenly feels so much shorter, and I feel much happier while performing the routine. I recommend creating a playlist of hyped music that you enjoy listening to play when you workout!

3. Calendar

I created a rewards system for myself. If I worked out for 10 consecutive days and controlled my diet, I would give myself one “cheat” day where I would not need to workout.

A calendar was very useful for this system because I could keep track of the days that I worked out. I would draw a symbol on the days that I workout so that if I see 10 consecutively drawn symbols, I can rest for a day. The “cheat” day that I can get pushes me to exercise because it gives me a sense of achievement.

In addition, since the calendar very clearly shows the progress that I’ve been making, it pushes me to continue and not break the streak. I have the calendar on the wall in front of my desk to remind myself to make healthy choices.

How to be more Productive!

I was always a student that was lazy and unmotivated to work. The only way I got motivation was by due dates and watching people working really hard around me. By this, I mean that I would procrastinate on any given assignment, and then get motivated to work really hard due to the stress of not getting the work done on time.

This was already an unhealthy method, but quarantine made this type of motivation not possible due to the flexibility of online schooling. Since there was no one around me who was working hard, I was unable to get motivation from that either. This led to me spending the first few weeks of quarantine very lazily. At a certain point, however, I realized that I have to find something to do other than rolling around in bed all day.

As a pro-lazy high schooler, I’ll be giving some helpful tips in being productive during the day!

1. Wake up, no phone

Especially since I’m not busy in the morning nowadays, it’s really easy to just start scrolling through social media as soon as I open my eyes. However, this is a terrible habit to have and a perfect way to start a lazyday.

Once we start using any entertaining apps, such as YouTube or Instagram, as soon as we wake up, it is very hard to stop and start working on actual things that need to get done. In fact, from early in the morning, we’d get used to not using our brain that when it becomes time to actually start studying or working, it would feel to tiring or boring.

That’s why as soon as we wake up, we need to just get right to what we have to get done. Then, our brain will get used to working in the morning, and it’s easy to stay productive that way. Rather than having a rested brain feel “normal” and a working brain feel “tiring”, our working brain will feel “normal” and a rested brain will feel like a present for the hard work.

2. Keep Moving

Oftentimes, people say that they will be productive the next day, yet they start the next day by rolling around on bed. I know very well how hard it is to get out of bed. Once we get comfy, it’s really hard to tell ourselves to get out and start working. That’s why instead of getting comfy on bed, it’s much better to just start moving.

I realized that if you just start moving around and constantly find things to do, there is no time to get lazy. Even if the activity may not be related to the work that needs to get done, it’s much better to do something productive that will keep the mind and body active.

3. Sleep More

When I actually needed to go to school everyday, I always complained about sleep deprivation and the amount of schoolwork I have. As funny as it sounds, I sleep less now, even though I have so little work compared to back then. The thought that I don’t have to wake up early the next day got me to sleep later and later everyday, and my sleep schedule was completely messed up for a while. However, this terrible sleep schedule greatly impacts my productivity.

If we don’t get a lot of sleep, there is a high chance that we will feel sleepy all day the next day. Then, it would cause the person to get lazy and not want to work on the things that they need to work on. This would lead the person into spending another lazy day and resting all day. Then, by nighttime, it would be hard to fall asleep due to the amount of rest during the day. This is how a terrible, unproductive routine begins.

Therefore, sleeping more will allow the body to be fully rested and ready to take on the tasks for the day.

Thoughts of iPhone SE2 as an iPhone 11 user

I’ve been using my iPhone 11 for the past two months (time flies by really fast).

For a quick TMI, I’ve been actually having fun with my phone because I continuously customize it based on the way I want it. I put some very sparkly stickers on the notch, but it was actually quite difficult because of earpiece sticker and all of the sensors on the notch. I still enjoyed it because it was a great way to pass the time because I seem to have nothing to do these days. I actually would’ve wanted to put more stickers on the front side, but the size of the bezels made it very difficult. I personally love small bezels, like the one Samsung phones have nowadays, but this was the first time I actually wanted larger bezels. On the backside, I kept it simple by just putting in photobooth photo with my friends. I decided to just customize my phone that reflected my personality. When people first see me, I appear to be more calm and mature (I think), which is why I kept the backside more simple. When people get to know me, they understand that I am the completely opposite of their first impression, which is why I put such fancy sparkly stickers on the front of my phone.

Anyways, since it’s hard to imagine, I’ll insert some pictures below.

For the photo of the back, I scribbled out the pictures but thats how I placed the photo in my case.

Now, onto the main topic of this blog, I was actually pleasantly surprised with the revealing of the new iPhone SE. When I saw a post about it on Social Media, I thought that it was another rumored photo. When I learned that it actually released and saw the specs, along with the price, I was soso pleasantly surprised. It sort of made me feel like what if I just didn’t buy the iPhone 11 HAHA. Okay, I’ll go into what I love about it.

1. The Design!

I know that the iPhone 8 design is considered to be very outdated and old. Honestly, I do agree because even if I have the iPhone 11, which has significantly smaller bezels than the previous models that had home buttons, compared to my parents’ phones, which are the Note 10+ and the s10, my phone’s bezel seems incredibly big and my phone looks a lot more outdated.

However, there is this iPhone-ness that only the models with home buttons have that I really missed. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, I began to like decorating my phone, and there are times when I wish the bezels were bigger, so it’s not a big problem. Since the iPhone 11 was my first iPhone, I actually never used the models with home buttons. However, whenever I use my friend’s iPhone 8, I was so shocked at how compact and comfortable it was to use. I do love big screens, but I actually prefer the iPhone 8 design much more than the iPhone 11 design, which has the strange placement of the cameras on the back.

Especially during this time of Quarantine, home button with Touch ID is much more practical than the face ID since so many people are using masks these days so it’s harder to unlock our phones.

In addition, recently, I feel that my wrist has a harder time using my phone for a long time because of how heavy it is. For some reason, I didn’t feel this much discomfort when I used my Note 9, even though it technically weighs more. However, the fact that the iPhone 8 is light and easy to grip is a huge win factor for me.

Some things that I wish, however, is that at this point in time, I feel that the original placement of the apple logo and the iPhone logo of the iPhone 8 is prettier than the new one on the SE. However, I know for sure that I am going to start liking the new placement more. I also feel that iPhone 8 originally had amazing colors, especially the gold. Those pretty colors are gone now and replaced with very XR-like colors. Also, I do wish the white phone came with a white front because that gives off the actual iPhone-ness that I mentioned earlier. However, I don’t hate the black front since many people use night mode these days and I feel that black bezels suit night mode better.

2. The Price!

Of course, with the SE, I can’t disregard the price. I actually have a first generation iPhone SE at home because I wanted a separate cheaper phone at a period of my life. I felt that although it is very small, it was well-worth the price because it was significantly cheaper than the iPhone 6s that launched that year.

The 128gb iPhone SE2 is $449, which is around half the price of the 128gb iPhone 11 I own. That makes me wonder if the things I gain with the iPhone 11 are worth the price. I know that the iPhone 11 is known to be the best iPhone for most people since there is a greater advantage worth the money compared to the Pro series. However, the iPhone SE comes with the same chip, similar cameras, and has everything that a lot of people need.

In addition, a lot of people who own iPhones also own some sort of other apple device, such as the Macbook or iPad. I feel that this means that they normally watch videos and Netflix on those devices, like I watch everything on my iPad. This means that a big screen is not completely necessary, and in fact a smaller size might be better since phones are carried around everywhere.

Conclusion

Just based on the headings I have, it seems as though I am only surprised about two things, but within each section, there are many different pros I also included, which I really love about this new phone. During a period of financial crisis like this, I believe that it was very clever for Apple to release a phone that is actually affordable. I really love this phone and if I hadn’t purchased my iPhone 11 two months ago, I probably would’ve gone with this because it’s so worth the price.

Some Helpful Apps to use during Quarantine

As a result of the outbreak of the Covid-19, students are required to take online schooling at least until April 10th. In addition, we are currently in a lock down in which we can’t leave our house unless really needed to, such as grocery shopping. As a result, I have been spending over a week at just my house without leaving even once. The only time I got a breath of fresh air was for 30 minutes in front of my garage. This makes it incredibly easy for us to constantly want to go outside and socialize with people. In order to relieve some desire to go outside, I have some apps that I want to recommend.

1. Houseparty

This is a very famous app already, but it seems to be necessary in a time like this. Houseparty is a very fun videocalling app. Although many people use FaceTime, FaceTime is limited to only Apple users. Houseparty, on the other hand, is available for all mobile devices. This app notifies you when someone that you added is “in the House” so that if you know that someone is active and you want to talk to them, you can join their conversation, similarly to when you talk to people in real life. If you want your conversation to be private, however, you can lock the room so that people can’t randomly join. There are fun additions to the app, such as games, which is fun for friends to use. Some negatives is that the quality of the camera is often bad (there are lots of visible pixels) and that the device’s battery runs out quickly when Houseparty is being used.

2. Google News

I have never read or kept up with news as much as I have been this past week. Since I know that we are not just having a break, I want to make sure I know what is happening in the world in terms of the progress of the Covid-19. In addition, since many things are happening at once in the US, it is good to be more knowledgeable. Not only that, but many people are bored at home without any more things to watch or Instagram posts to look at. This is a good reason why people should try keeping up with the virus so that we can prepare for what ends up happening.

3. Pinterest

I’m sure everyone’s heard of this app at least once in their lives. However, this app comes in very handy while quarantined because it is very easy to lose motivation when home alone. As a result, it is much easier to be more productive at home while seeing the posts that are interesting. Not only this, but if you are willing to do something productive but cannot think of any ideas, Pinterest is a great start. Starting off with the ideas that are presented in Pinterest, a person can expand on them and create what is unique. “Create” does not particularly refer to just artworks – it refers to anything a person is passionate about that they want to improve on.