No alarms, no hustle, lots of recharging time. The secret of my cheerfulness, upbeat energy, and steady progress in several areas of work and life is unapologetically living my day to day life slowly, gently and on my own terms!

Do you do things at your own pace and time instead of working and living according to norms like “must wake up early” and “should work super hard”? Understanding our nature and moulding our daily schedules in alignment with it does wonders! Try it.

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In the previous episode, I mentioned a vegan market I’d be attending. So all of last Saturday I spent the whole day there. It was so much fun!

It’s called Namu Recommends, and I love going to this market. It’s vegan, yes, but also I prioritise it over other vegan events. There are other things that I miss out, but this market I never miss.

The atmosphere is very vibrant!

There are a hundred different vendors selling stuff, so you get to try a lot of good food. And it’s like attending a wedding because you meet so many people – old friends, new. It’s nice to spend time talking to the vendors, getting to know about their products, their stories, their journeys.

Some of these people keep coming back. So, you become more and more familiar. You start associating certain faces with the market and feel like they’re always going to be there. The market is where we get to meet them.

Our gang, we go there, we occupy this one table, and that becomes home base. Then we take turns to go to different stalls, walk around, and keep coming back, bringing food back to the table, sharing, talking…and the day just goes by!

I was telling my dad about this a couple of days ago. I was talking to him about how hubbs and I were at the market all day long. And he’s like, “How do you even spend that much time? What do you do there all day?”

I couldn’t quite describe it to him. All I know is it was so enjoyable we didn’t realise the day went by. In fact, we were there till after the market closed. That’s how nice it was.

See, I am an introvert-extrovert borderline person

I’m mostly an introvert, but when I’m out and about with friend groups, I’m quite extroverted. Talking to everyone and all that, I do enjoy it. But, I like larger stretches of my weeks, my days, my months, to be spent in silence.

I usually prefer meeting friends one-on-one. I’d rather have a phone call with a close friend than go to a party or a get-together and meet a whole bunch of people.

But once in a while, I do enjoy those events too. So during the market, I’m very cheerful.

Till the very end of the day, I’m cheerful

One of the vendors asked me in the last market…At the end of the day she looked at me and was like, “How are you so fresh?!”

I didn’t realise how fresh and cheerful I was until she said it. Haha I think it’s because my energy got fed by the quality time spent with people I enjoy interacting with. But more importantly…

Before any big event I pre-charge, and later I recharge

So if it’s a one-day event like this, for two days before that I stay in silence. Not really meeting people and interacting too much so that I can store up energy. And then after the market, for three or four days, I need quiet time again. I step away from everything.

Even this whole week, I didn’t even bother to go onto Insta. I’m like, “no interactions because I’ve got my fill of that at the market!”

(By the way, if you don’t know me, I’m Susmitha Veganosaurus, and this is The Feel Good Factor that you’re listening to. I’m glad you’re here. If you enjoy my podcast, then you’re going to really like my free newsletter, The Feel Good Tribe. Go here, read more about it and sign up!)

On the morning of the market day I woke up a little earlier than my usual time.

I’m a late riser, and I don’t believe in the concept of alarms for waking up

I wake up at my own pace, in a very gentle way. I don’t like to be shocked awake! Then I stay in bed for a while before I slowly get out of bed.

I don’t plan anything for my day for a time that has AM in it! Haha

The earliest I make appointments to meet anybody in person is 12 noon. I prefer it to be even later, but if I must, noon is the earliest I’ll do.

The reason I’m sharing this with all of you is, you know…

It helps to know yourself, understand yourself

On the morning of the market, I woke up a little earlier because I was very excited to go there. I was like a child on her birthday morning, too excited to sleep.

At around 8 AM I messaged our Bengaluru Vegans group. “I’m so excited I woke up early!” One of my friends there commented, “Don’t tell me 8 AM is early!”

So, I’m like, “Yeah, for me it is.”

I’m very unapologetic about my habits, my patterns, my schedules, and who I am

You know, I get work done. I create a lot. I teach. There’s plenty of meaningful work I do. And my life is very well-rounded and fulfilling for the most part. I try to keep it that way. Learning, creating, working, family, downtime, a lot of it. It’s pretty well-rounded.

And the reason it’s well-rounded is because I’m unapologetic about my schedules and my process.

Of pre-charging and recharging, taking time for myself, understanding how I work, understanding how my energy levels fluctuate, and then saying, “yeah, this is who I am, so too bad.”

I don’t subscribe to all these normally accepted beliefs of, “you have to wake up early in the morning, you have to work super, super hard, you have to push yourself a lot out of your comfort zone, blah, blah, blah”. I don’t subscribe to any of that. And I believe my life is going well and quite successful as it is.

So, I wanted to tell you, you know what, it’s good to know yourself.

Ask yourself if you’re comfortable with how you’re living your life and scheduling things

I don’t work on somebody else’s schedule. That’s why I don’t have a regular day job, like a nine to five job. Yet, I manage to run my business, do this podcast, do my blog, create courses, do my coaching. There’s plenty that I do.

I manage to do all of that at my own pace, in my own time, the way I like it.

So, where in your life are you subscribing to norms like wake up early, work hard, hustle, blah, blah, blah, when it may not even be in your nature, because you see others do it?

If you believe you have to do certain things even though they don’t really align with you as a person, maybe you need to rethink things.

Even if you have a regular day job, by the way. Sometimes it’s a matter of you being very comfortable in who you are and how you work. And showing the results of your work by doing it in your own way.

Doing that will habituate the rest of the world around you to understand, “okay, this is who this person is, this is how they work, and that is it.”

If you accept yourself completely as you are, for your nature, then others will also learn to do the same

So, whether it’s in your business, your work, creative projects, your day-to-day life, see how you can adjust things to come even more in alignment with who you truly are.

• Is it possible for you to wake up without an alarm?
• Are you setting an alarm each morning just because, well, that’s the “done thing”?
• Do you work extra hard and push yourself because you feel like, yeah, that’s the only way I’m worthy of whatever salary I earn?
• Are you succumbing to unhealthy perfectionism?
• Do you live, work, and schedule against your natural inclination at the cost of your own energy, joy and fulfilment?

Look for the basic limit. “This much I need to do, but beyond that, it’s not necessary. I’m just unnecessarily pushing myself too hard.”

In your work, in your life, in everything, take back the power and let your schedules form around who you are as a person

Initially there may be friction because you’ve habituated people into thinking this is how hard you work, this is how you’re available all the damn time. But after that initial friction, people get over it.

And you’ll figure out a way. Your life, your work, your creativity, your self-improvement, your fitness, whatever…You will figure out a way to make it work around your schedule, your nature.

You schedule and working style will get moulded around who you are, and you’ll still make progress and do meaningful things in life.

So yeah, this is what I wanted to share with you. I hope it’s given you some food for thought. All right! I am Susmitha Veganosaurus, this is The Feel Good Factor. I’ll talk to you again next week.

Take care! Bye.

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Susmitha Veganosaurus

“I read voraciously, find humour in most things, and I’m most in my element when I’m teaching, writing, and playing with clay. I believe authenticity and kindness are the key to a joyful world. Sign up for my free newsletterwhere I share Life and Business Tips, Vegan Hacks, Holistic Guidance, and more.

Vegan cuisine and holistic business building are my two biggest passions. If you’re looking for guidance with vegan cooking, or want to grow your conscious business with joy and fulfilment, explore ways we can work together here.”

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