Finding Time For The Things You Love

More than often we find ourselves being asked the same question in a 100 different ways. How do we find time for the things that we do. Sometimes this is a simple direct question to us. Sometimes it comes concealed and well wrapped with a ribbon and bow in the form of casual messages like “Are you still working?” or sometimes it is more direct – “Are you not tired of travelling ? Is it not time to settle down? “( this one being the most common one).

The answer to the former is an emphatic “YES”. We are both full time working IT professionals who are trying our best to master the art of juggling between multiple things we love. You could say that women are good at multiprocessing and men are uni processors. I do not want to debate on this, but if we are good at multiprocessing, we try hard to ace at it.

To the latter, the answer would be NO and NEVER (Big, Bold and Caps) – We would forever love to continue travelling and never ever settle down. The world is never too small to believe we have seen it all. There are always more avenues to discover, more paths to tread on, more people to meet, more experiences to be had.

So how do we do it? Read on to know how we find time for the things we love most – Reading, Travelling and Staying fit – exactly in that order.

Befriending Paperbacks and Imagination

I started my reading journey with “Harry Potter”. When my close friend from school days gave me the first three books of Harry Potter, little did I know it would launch me on a never ending relationship with books of all genres.

Books remain the first love of our lives and shall remain so forever. Those pages of fine print that can ignite a million dreams and imagination hold an unnatural power over our lives. To be accurate, everyone does some form of reading or the other every day. It could be newspapers or daily articles that comes in our daily life.

But to start reading seriously, what it takes is to know your preference and the genre that impresses you the most. This is something that you identify in the long run and can take days or months. And it evolves with you as you grow, as you age. Start with small books, pick them from the library if would like to set yourself a timeline of finishing reading them.

The only established side effect of reading – Mentally correcting the grammar and spellings of others while they talk or text!

We swear by hard copies over kindle editions of books. As much as we can talk about reducing paper and conservation of nature, it is hard to ignore the feel of a book physically in your hand, to smell the papers as you turn them. There is rarely any day when I finish the day without reading. There is always a book kept on the bedside table and that prompts me to read at least a page, and more often multiple chapters before I wind down for the day. Books are also great companions when you are taking that long commute by flights or in trains, eventually it is these paper backs that can help you ease the tiredness of those long hauls.

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Planning Travel Effectively

Leave Planning – Getting Your Calendar For The Year Sorted

Here is where it gets interesting. We live in the age of social media and almost no one misses a chance to check-in whilst they travel – and to this charge, I plead guilty. So sometimes when I am shuttling back and forth locally or internationally, my check in history naturally raises the same question in every one’s mind – “How does she still get to keep her job with all that travel ?” The answer to that is – effective planning and prioritization of what is important to you.

Work life balance is important. The key is do the things that make us happy today rather than having to regret about not having done it later. We don’t travel to knock destinations off a list. We choose to travel for the experience and memories it brings.

Let us do the math – There are approximately 52 weekends in a non-leap year. That gives you 104 off work days. Now factor in the 10 public holidays and about 20-25 earned leaves. That leaves us with about with a whopping ~140 non-working days in a year. Still wondering how we make those trips ? All it takes is looking at these days as an opportunity and making the most of it. Of course, we are not talking about travelling all of those 140 days. But with some forethought and careful planning of your vacation around long weekends, you can definitely squeeze in at least 2 major trips a year and a handful of smaller weekend trips.

Still dreaming of that Ladakh Road Trip or that dreamy island holiday to Maldives?

GO FOR IT !

Money Matters – Financial Planning

Having a salaried job does not entitle to travelling without limits. We do have our own financial planning and we take it very seriously. We keep aside a small amount every month to accommodate the travel plans for the year. This also means less indulging in shopping, eat outs and other fancy but avoidable purchases. Neither of us are gadget freaks and except for the investment on camera, we rarely spend money on anything of materialistic value. Instead, we invest in creating experiences and memories.

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Shopping for travel : We are trying to embrace slow fashion by reusing the clothes from the wardrobe that are buried deep down under piles of newer clothes. Then there is re-inventing from our old clothes and stopping ourselves from visiting stores before a trip!

You can save on a good deal of money when you plan your trips in advance. Airfares and hotel rates change during festive seasons. Advance planning can help reduce the hassles of travel. We also try to use powerful credit cards that come with travel insurance, free airport lounge access and provide maximum cash back.

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All About Staying Fit

To do all the things we do, fitness plays an important role. Unfortunately, most of us realize the importance of fitness the hard way – either when we turn overweight and lose the stamina or when serious health issues start haunting our otherwise peaceful lives. Ageing is inevitable. What you can do is, age gracefully. As always, prevention is better than cure. Both of us have identified fitness regimes which has worked for us in the long run.

Between marathons, cycling, running challenges, gym routine and strength training, we allocate 1.5 hours per day for fitness for at least 4 days in a week. Neither of us were fitness freaks  years ago. But then once you begin and take it forward, the endorphins make it impossible for you to slow down.

Having work out buddies who join your fitness goal programs can be a productive way to feel motivated to stick to a regime. Keeping track of your progress and celebrating little milestones is a great way to keep going.

It is always about the setting into a routine that can be hard – it takes some self-determination and will power to dedicate yourself to a healthier and better life style. But in the end, it is always worth the effort. We also try to maintain a circle of friends who share similar fitness goals – and the ones who do not comply, we push them hard to get them on the fitness journey as well!

We hope you loved reading a bit about us. So what are the things you love ? Send us your thoughts and comments through messages or comments and we will always be happy to listen and respond. Do you want us to write more from our personal stories? Let us know and we would happily oblige.

Until our next story, stay tuned to stay tuned to our updates in Facebook and Instagram.

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