One thing is certain in this life and that is: our days are finite. We, as humans, are also finite. We have limits on to what we can do each and everyday before we need to recharge whether that be through drinking, eating, sleeping, exercise, you name it. Without these basic necessities, we cannot complete tasks that are less essential to living, but essential to living in the first world. Those items include working, cleaning, doing chores to benefit the household, taking care of others, etc.

As far as bipolar goes, life doesn’t stop if and when we have a rough day. I have personally found that staying on a schedule more or less, even on days off from work are crucial to regulating my mood swings. Without a schedule, I tend to be complacent in home tasks such as cooking and cleaning, along with my blogging, and other art forms.

I will write about what I do on my days off because in my opinion, it’s harder to not self destruct than on days when I am forced to be productive by working. Without work or keeping busy on my days off, I will end up doing something reckless if I’m not constantly being checked in on by my parents or by Diego.

5am: Wake up

Regardless of if I work or not, I try to set my alarm and be alert no later than 6 a.m. On my days off, I have to be alert by this time, not necessarily out of bed. I can be on my phone or blogging by 6 a.m. and then I say the day is starting off with a bang. As most of you know, lately I haven’t been posting much content lately, but I usually look at the stats of my blog and read other blogs for inspiration first thing in the morning and start doing my research on what to blog next.

6am: Caffeine

Once I am alert enough and have had my eyes open for a little bit, it’s time for an energy drink. I LOVE Redbull and I know it’s terrible for me and not to mention expensive, so I limit myself 12-16 ounces a day; 16 if it’s going to be a long day. So I try to sip it like a fine wine so I can thoroughly enjoy it. Usually that’s not enough, so then I brew myself 10 ounces of drip coffee or drink a lightly caffeinated herbal tea.

By this time, I start chain smoking my vape. 6 mg of nicotine isn’t very much when you think about it because the average nicotine patch used on adults who wish to quit smoking is 21 mg. Another bad habit of mine. I might kill someone without it. Anyways, I digress.

At this point, I am in my writing prime! I alternate between my beverages, my vape, and between typing. My ideas flow together well and I am the least bit distracted since Diego is still asleep and I have my alone time.

7:30am: Breakfast

After I finish my blog, I am usually very hungry so I might eat a protein bar while writing or grab some fruit. If not, I will make a large protein shake. Usually a banana and peanut butter protein chocolate protein shake, but during summer it’s usually a fruit medley of banana, blueberries, and/or strawberries. If I am extra hungry, nutella toast will be added to the list or maybe even some scrambled eggs. As far as conscious eating goes, I try to stick to around 450 calories of mostly protein for breakfast. It is the most calories I eat throughout the day and the most filling without dragging me down.

8am: Dishes

I despise the dishes, but if I don’t do them in the morning and at night, the pile will stack up and then I end up drawing the short straw and have to wash them all anyways. So I wash the blender from my protein shakes, and whatever else is in the sink from the night before.

8:30am: Spend time with Diego

Usually he wakes up about 8 or so regardless of his work hours. So I crawl back in bed with him to cuddle and talk to each other. But most of the time we just stare at or phones; usually he is reading an e-book or watching Facebook videos or watching video game hacks for Destiny or for Pokemon. As for me, I scroll through Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, trying to find the next house project or art project to do.

It’s nice to just lay in bed with him, even if we aren’t talking because we both work long hours and usually opposite hours so I only see him in passing some days. Today was a rarity because we both had the day off! So I will continue using today as an example on what I normally do.

9am: Run Errands

Diego and I have only been living at our new house since the June 13th, so there are still a lot of things that have to be done with the house. So today we went and bought an entertainment center for his big ass TV that he spent wayyyyy too much money on. It’s a 65in. TV and he still thinks it could have been bigger. I digress…

10:30am: Do chores

Diego spent all morning and early afternoon trying to assemble that entertainment center. I proceeded to put all the cardboard and Styrofoam from the TV that we assembled the night previously into my car to take to the dump. As he unpacked the entertainment center, I proceeded to take that rubbish and put it in my car.

Then I started laundry and folding clean laundry. The kitchen was already cleaned after breakfast so I just had to focus on the rest of the house.

1pm: Run More Errands

Now, I normally don’t have to leave my house more than once in one day when I am not working, but we had to go to the dump to get rid of all that boxed up Styrofoam so we got cash, went and grabbed some shitty fast food (super conscious eating, I know, but sometimes you gotta splurge) and went to the dump.

We were going to go to the hardware store to grab some nails and go to the store to look at lighting options for our dining, living, and master bedroom, but chose to do that a different day.

2pm: Lunch

Today we ate shitty fast food. But normally I eat a homemade meat and cheese sandwich, some chips, and some fruit. Usually I end up regretting my decision to go out to eat because I can make something tastier and cheaper at home now that I have my own kitchen.

2:30pm: Nap Time!

Oh look, it’s my favorite part of the day, especially on a day off. My naps can be anywhere between 2-5 hours long. I don’t sleep well normally so I get really fatigued throughout the day. So Diego just lets me sleep because he knows there is no fighting me on it.

5pm: Dinner Time

I have a menu board on my fridge with dinner planned out for the week so it’s never a chore to think of what to eat! Tonight, it was breakfast for dinner, so biscuits and gravy, sausage, and a ham steak. I love to cook so I don’t really consider this to be a chore. Plus, every now and again, Diego will cook for me and he’s pretty good at it. I just like to cook so I can ask him to do the nighttime dishes. Ha!

6:30pm: Activity Room Time

As Diego sweeps the floors and takes out the garbage before he plunks himself in front of his X-Box, I head into my activity room. We have three bedrooms in the house, the master bedroom aka our room, the spare guest room, and I pay $500 in rent to rent out the third room which I deemed as my activity room. My activity room is meant for my blogging, vlogging, and painting room. I have two desks; one for my writing and one for my painting. So depending on the day, I will either blog or paint, depending on how I feel and my creativity levels. I usually try to create something or plan on creating something everyday. It’s ambitious, I know, but it keeps me out of trouble.

8:30pm: More chores

Finish laundry. Tidy up kitchen and dining room. Tidy up our room. Take meds. Yes, taking meds is a chore and the worst chore there is at that.

9:00pm – Midnight: Free Time

This is usually when I get my creative ideas for the next day. I have been using this time to play my 3DS and complete tasks on my games. Otherwise, I am reading articles on my phone. I try to recap the day during this time to see what I did well and what I could do better with. Each day is different but generally this schedule is more or less the same; clean, eat, smoke, work on art, cook, errands, repeat, not all in that order.

12am – 5ish am : Sleep

I don’t sleep very well at night for whatever reason so that’s why I only get about 5-6 hours of deep sleep. And next thing I know…

Repeat.

Til next time,

Dani