Back Again

Well hasn’t it been quite a while since our last catch up. I do apologise for the delay and radio silence on things. A lot has been going on since my last post. It’s probably best to explain some of it.

You may or may not have been aware of the State Election in New South Wales which recently happened on March 25th. Well, I was involved as one of the coordinators for the campaign team for the electorate of Riverstone which is located in Sydney’s North West region.

It was a demanding role that took over my life, especially when we got closer to the election day. Now, when I say that, it is not in anyway a bad thing. I completely devoted myself to serving the Labor campaign and was proud of my efforts as I believe they will benefit the community.

The specific role I had was Direct Voter Contact Coordinator. Originally, I was only the Doorknocking Coordinator but the guy running the Phonebanking side of things became a father and had to step away from his role. Which is completely reasonable, although it did mean that I would need to step up and take on those duties as well. Whoops I should probably explain what Doorknocking and Phonebanking is.

Doorknocking is exactly what you imagine, you knock on a door and you try to have a conversation with a voter. While Phonebanking is a similar concept but solely over the phone. Those two activities fall under the banner of Direct Voter Contact or DVC, which I have learned from a mentor is one of the best ways to get a message out there, by having conversations with real people.

As the coordinator, I had to organise the lists of addresses and phone numbers that had to be attempted, recruit volunteers and roll up my sleeves and have conversations myself (All while still working my normal job in the daytime and doing the essential life admin). These DVC activities were executed each and every day of the campaign for nine weeks. It was tough but I loved every minute of it.

On weekends, my entire 48 hours were dedicated to the campaign in whatever capacity I was needed, and as time progressed my thoughts and actions were centred on the campaign and what issues the community cared about. Riverstone, this electorate of mine is a case study (FYI I will be doing a breakdown of the Riverstone Electorate and it’s history in the coming weeks, just putting my thoughts together first).

Then the final week came along, I took work off and did a whole week of early voting handouts running on two hours sleep each night. I really can’t list all the things that happened because there are too many to mention. Let’s just say, it was the most full on experience I have ever had. I can’t wait for the next one.

Oh and just to let you know, March 25th came, and Warren Kirby, the man who provided me with one of the things I sometimes can feel I am missing in my life, Hope, won the NSW State seat of Riverstone. All the hard work the campaign team put in, paid off. Just today, when I was writing this, I got a message from Warren saying that he has received the official welcome to State Parliament.

What a time to be alive

Hey Hedites, I know this one was a bit of a ramble, I’ve only just returned back to the land of the living. But movign forward things should fall back into the normal schedule of uploads, thanks for being understanding.

Listen to Focus

Hey there, I know I’m a day late on this post but things have been fairly full on with work and the election campaign I am coordinating. But never the less here is this week’s post. I’m readin this book called “How to Listen” by Oscar Trimboli and so far it has been really good. What I want to share with you today is a great little technique.

Now this isn’t about mindfulness or meditation even though it may seem like it is based off the instructions of the activity. Instead it is more concentrated on focusing and uncovering the hidden subconscious thoughts that cycle through your head before you listen to someone. It’s your own mental white noise, these thoughts need to be acknowledged.

Step 1: For the next three minutes, focus your eyes on a blank space, a wall some paper – not a screen. If you can close your eyes during this exercise, even better.

Step 2: Notice your breathing: is it slow, fast, light, or heavy?

Step 3:Bring your attention to yourself and ask yourself this question: What am I not listening to in myself?

Step 4: Switch your phone to “do not disturb” or silent and set your alarm for three minutes and repeat the question until the subconscious thoughts start to present themselves

I tried this technique while on the train to work. It had a very positive impact on my day.

So my Hedites, have a go and tell me how it goes

Dim Your Phone Not Your Brightness

Okay, so this week’s blog post I will be covering a tip to help improve your sleep. We all know that the blue LED light from screens tricks our brains into keeping us awake. Many phones nowadays have some sort of screen dimmer built in or apps can be bought that achieve the same purpose. Today, I will show you a free and easy way to get even better results than anything else out there.

I only know how to do this because I own an iphone, I’m sure there is a way to do it on Android. You might have to consult Google on that one.

Step 1. Go to your Settings

Step 2. Go to the ‘Accessibility Tab’

Step 3. Click on the “Display & Text Size” Tab

Step 4. Scroll down and click on the “Colour Filters” Tab

Step 5. Turn on “Colour Filters”

Step 6. Increase “Intensity” to the maximum (FYI your screen should turn a dark brown/red, mine doesn’t change, the reason why will become apparent in the next steps)

Hold up!!! We now know how to erase most of the blue LED light from our screen, but naviagting the Setting’s menus to turn that on and off is hard. I hear you, so let’s automate the process. The previous steps changed the colour of the screen, the following steps automate the accessibility features on your iphone. So that when you triple press the home screen very fast, it will toggle the dark brown/red screen filter

Step 7. Go back to the “Accessibility” Tab and scroll down and select “Accessibility Shortcut”

Step 9. Tick the “Colour Filters” Option

Finish… So now when you triple press your home button, your screen will go from normal to the dark brown/red. And if you triple press your home button again, it will revert back to your normal screen colour.

Hope this helps you sleep.

Thanks to my Hedites for bankrolling this endeavour

We Back Baby

Okay so I am back from my Christmas and New Year’s break. I took that time off to recalibrate some things in my life. Essentially from this point on, uploads should be following the usual schedule. I do have a State Election campaign that will take up a lot of my time but I will challenge myself to stick to our agreement.

One thing that has been so encouraging recently, is that I have made substantial steps towards reinstating my daily workout routine. I won’t go over every detail but it is a very concentrated cardio and core body workout.

I started developing it in 2018 and was still going strong throughout the first year of the pandemic. However, in late 2020 I broke one of my fingers and couldn’t train for months. To compensate I only retained exercises which didn’t involve the use of my hands, mainly core exercises. This went on for some time but wasn’t delivering the same results as before. Although that was anticipated, I still eventually stopped altogether.

The fittest I’ve ever been was during those years when my routine was rock solid (don’t assume my muscles are rock solid, exercise is about health, I’m not trying to turn myself into a cloud of muscles). Now, I have gotten back about 2/3 of my routine and the trajectory is looking promising. With a little bit more time and effort I will climb that hill. Also, I added swimming into the routine, but I don’t take that seriously, just a little something extra.

The other thing I’ve been getting back into with gusto is my French lessons. Oui, mon français est mouvais, but I am doing more deliberate learning. Instead of rehashing the things I’ve covered a million times, I decided to educate myself on things that have been confusing me about the language.

Words and phrases is where I started my journey, which is a place I think most people would begin with, but I was missing something which I have taken for granted with English, grammar. Verbs in French have different suffixes added to them depending on who you are referring to. For example, prendre (to take) is “je prends” meaning “I take” while “nous prenons” is “we take”. Crazy right?

That’s the funny thing, only knowing English has meant that it has been so ingrained and natural for me that I forgot how core foundational things such as grammar are in communication. Moving forward I want to continue my own individual learning, then when I hit B1 level (it’s a grade for the competency of your language skills) I will take up in person classes.

Last thing before I sign off is that I will be getting back into my writing this year. Last year didn’t sparkle on that front but I want to make 2023 the year where that changes. So if you like reading my short stories on your kindle then stay tuned for more.

All in all, life is good and I hope yours is too.

Shout out to my Hedites who were revisiting old posts throughout my holiday, love to see enthusiasm.

End of Year Rejuv

Wassup, how is it going? I hope things are working out great for you.

I don’t want to call this post my end of year post since I feel I have a lot left in me before the end of this calendar year. However, I got to say that I am feeling more uplifted by the year’s end vibe. Normally I tell myself that it doesn’t really matter since time moves in a linear fashion.

But this year I am in such a good mood. I feel as if some switch has been flicked in my brain and that has resulted in an explosive passion for rejuvenation. This year has been very much about reorientating my life and routines to deal with the challenge of significant change. By no means am I saying I was drowning from it but peak performance seemed to elude me.

Although it was a tad bit frustrating, I knew like most things, that it was only temporary. Currently, I am not where I need to be in a few aspects of my life but I would say a lot of people feel like that. What’s amazing is this motivation or desire put the pieces of the puzzle into place; and to hit that point of UNLIMITED PERSONAL POWER!!!

Having said all of this, I think yes, it could be due to the end of year vibes. Or on the other hand, it could be the fact that I have only just recovered from my bout of COVID; as well as my hands have come good after me accidentally burning them (I’m up to the stage where the skin is peeling, but I’m moisturising appropriately so don’t worry about me). I mentioned in my COVID video a few weeks back, that you only truly appreciate your health once you lose it. So, maybe my new lease on life comes from my return to health instead of the time of year. Who knows.

I guess all I want to know is how are you feeling? Please share in the comments

(Side note: I have done this before, where I accidentally hurt myself and then turn that into an opportunity to improve. For instance, I broke my finger and had a cast on my right hand for six weeks, so I decided to commit myself to learning to write with my left hand, which I continue to use to this day.)

Shout out to the Hedites, graciously supporting this channel and blog, you da best dawg!!!!