S01E01: Recent Days - A Journal Entry of Daily Life

Everything feels like it’s been put on fast-forward, and suddenly it’s late December. All that happened this year has started to blur, as if covered by a layer of dust. Getting older and addicted to fragmented information has left my brain rusty and locked, requiring occasional taps on the head to remember what year it is. Since my teenage years, I’ve worried about potentially developing Alzheimer’s. Back then, I occasionally wrote on my little WeChat public account, creating a collection called “Memoirs of a Potential Alzheimer’s Patient,” where I would sporadically record things, hoping I wouldn’t forget.

This year, work disrupted my life rhythm, and I barely picked up a pen to record my life: what movies I watched, what books I read, what insights I had. I even forgot how to write - sometimes spending ages trying to write certain characters on paper, and sometimes still ending up with wrong characters despite long contemplation. I can’t help but wonder how my language abilities have deteriorated to this state, deteriorated so badly it frightens me. I can’t even write simple holiday greetings without searching online. When language becomes this impoverished, there’s hardly any feeling left - one becomes just an empty and numb person.

It was probably September when I saw a YouTuber Reysu sharing a video about journaling. He taught an all-in-one journaling method that isn’t too burdensome for someone like me who often works sporadically. I can start recording anytime without forcing myself to write daily. So I bought a diary and began recording my daily life. September had just a few entries with large blank spaces; October was filled for most of the month with some gaps; November had entries for every day plus journal entries; December is still ongoing with daily records and even more journal entries. Now I’ve developed a habit of frequently recording my life, able to trace back to what special things happened on any given day. It’s quite a nice experience, and I really want to recommend it to everyone I know.

1. Eat Well, Sleep Well

After experiencing a toxic workplace environment, being marginalized, and reaching emotional exhaustion, I finally recognized - though always late - that I had met some wonderful colleagues who became friends I could dine and watch movies with. This marks the end of my brief one-year work chapter.

After leaving, I started taking care of my health and seeing traditional Chinese medicine doctors. I stayed at my sister’s place for half a month, developed a habit of eating breakfast, never missing any of the three daily meals. Remarkably, I - a motion sickness wreck - stopped getting carsick. It turns out many problems can be solved by simply eating properly. Since childhood, I’ve been plagued by motion sickness, often feeling like dying when riding in vehicles, which made me hate traveling. This troublesome issue was ultimately solved in the simplest way, though I might still get motion sickness occasionally. Well, eat well!

Recently, I was diagnosed with fatigue syndrome by a traditional Chinese medicine doctor. I was constantly dreaming while sleeping, couldn’t wake up properly, and needed 9-10 hours of sleep to get up, always feeling tired and lacking energy afterward. This month, I started recording my sleep time in my diary. Except for one or two nights when I couldn’t sleep due to heavy footsteps from upstairs neighbors, I’ve been sleeping more than 8.5 hours every day, partly due to winter’s arrival and partly due to my blood deficiency and extreme lack of energy. Well, sleep well, no more staying up late!

2. Nature Heals All

My home is far from parks, requiring at least two subway transfers to reach one. During the week, I visited a huge park for a walk. My park-visiting style is the simplest - just walking, going wherever my feet take me, often completely losing my sense of direction, just moving forward. I love the dappled shadows created by sunlight filtering through leaves onto walls or ground - enough to make me stop and appreciate. This park, probably due to its location in the city center, has very few bird species, with rarely any bird calls heard.

The park is full of people running and cycling, focused on enjoying themselves. Later, somewhere in the park, I saw two adorable active cats, like little “mountain kings”: a friendly tabby cat and a slightly timid black-and-white cat. I played with them for a while, watching them dart around. I wonder what humans are like in a cat’s world.

Walking through a grove of trees, I happened to see a tree that was dead from top to root. I was about to walk away but turned back for another look. That dead tree had sprouted new buds from its branches, green shoots emerging from the withered body - how powerful and tenacious is the force of life.

3. Books, Films, and Audio

Recently, my time has been entirely my own, allowing more time for media consumption.

S01E01: Recent Days - A Journal Entry of Daily Life

1. Eat Well, Sleep Well

2. Nature Heals All

3. Books, Films, and Audio

✍Reading: Recent Reads

📌Films & TV: Recent Watches

🎨Videos: YouTube/Bilibili

🎧Podcasts: Xiaoyuzhou/Apple Podcasts