Time to talk more about my daily life under the pandemic. New normal, probably for the rest of my life, I and the rest of the world are changed forever. In the past, I get up in the morning, then go down to the little fitness center for around 30 minutes, basically running to wake me up. Then go back to my apartment and start to read papers and books.

At around 9 am, I go to the lib and start my coding and experiment daily routine. I live like that for around one year and start to get used to that. In the afternoon, I went to the fitness center on the campus and trained my arms and chest to make them in shape, though never get that. I really miss that life.

Now I am still working to push myself to work as hard as I used to. I registered many learning websites, such as Blinkist, Book of the Month, something like that. Blinkist provides a summary of books in the format of audio. With that, I can finish ‘reading’ a book in around 15 minutes. Furthermore, I normally listen to Blinkist while I am outside walking or waiting for something.

Bookofthemonth is a website that provides 5 books of their choice that I can purchase and read. The price of the member is 15 dollars per month for one book of that month. I registered BookoftheMonth last month, and for October, I ordered the book The girl in the mirror, which talks about the story of twin girls, Summer, and Iris. Still reading that book. Basically, 50 pages a day, will finish it in a week or so.

All of those learning registrations are for reminding myself that I should keep learning instead. I used to have a dream, a dream of having a successful life and career, but now, it faded away, the dream becomes unclear. My mind was getting used to a loser’s life, and my mindset changed to accepting the reality of any kind. I started to refuse to suffer the pain on the pass of success.

It enjoys the laser life of just laying down on the bed and not doing anything or just playing games. Such a loser lifestyle, right? All the bad things that you can imagine that a man should not do, I am doing. So, I must change. It is not that I want to change; it is not that I have to change; it is that I must change. If I do not change, I will become a loser.

I used to read a paper every day, and I used to write a review every week. Since the pandemic, I have changed a lot, with no more paper reading and no weekly review. This is not good.

From one of the Blinkist that I hear, I learned that it was because of the day-to-day changeless life under the quarantine that we prefer to ignore passing by time, and our mind becomes numb. Therefore, it is not that I become lazy; it is that the lifestyle itself is not good.

After knowing this, I started to go to the fitness center on the campus again and try to go there as often. Doing exercise makes me feel that I am in a healthy lifestyle again. It also gives me a chance to go outside, walking under the sunshine again, walking in the grain grass ground. Moreover, after going to the fitness center, I go to the student center, and many people study with their laptops. Wow, so many people having the same idea as me.

I always love the environment where many people are learning together cause having people study around me gives me a feeling that I should also be like them. I should not waste my time on some nonsense things. Even in my undergraduate study, I went to the library daily and stayed there the whole day, no matter weekdays or weekends. That is why I could learn so much during those four years.

Now, I have to find that feeling back again, going somewhere many people gather together to study. That feels so familiar and satisfying. My time comes back, my life comes back, though I only go there for one hour every day, for fearing of the pandemic, I might go there more often in the future if my new face masks and hand sanitizer arrives. Good habits need grit. A good life needs persistence. Keep going; the future is waiting.