7 – 7:45 >> Early Bird

I usually wake up around 7 o’clock and I have about 45 minutes to get ready. A strong cup of coffee is on the top of my priorities but I sometimes have a fresh grapefruit juice and small breakfast too, if I have enough time.

I used to be an anti-morning and anti-breakfast person (I had nothing but a coffee till noon) but that changed over time as I tried to force myself to wake up earlier and have a small bite to eat. I got to the point now that I can wake up early with almost no problems and I feel hungry at once, also I noticed that I became quite productive in the morning so I try to go earlier to work to make good use of that.

7:45 – 8:30 >> The Journey

I need about 45 minutes to get to work starting from when I step out from our flat till stepping into the office. I either take two connecting trains or my bf takes me to the train station and I ride with the second train directly. I walk from the train station for about 10 minutes to the office which is good exercise in the morning and just enough time for me to wake up.

As I already mentioned in a previous post, I like to listen to podcasts or read on the Kindle on the way to work. I sometimes also chat with my brother and my mom on WhatsApp to see how they are doing.

8:30 – 17:00 >> Busy Bee

If I don’t have breakfast at home, I quickly mix Greek yoghurt with oats and berries as a small snack when I get to work.

The rest of the time is spent in meetings, team coordination, coding and doing code reviews.

I take 15-30 minutes lunch break around noon and go to the canteen. I am not a big fan of canteen food and also the whole self-service atmosphere there but there’s not much choice in the area.

17:00 – 20:00 >> Freestyle

Sometimes I manage to leave from work at 17 o’clock but lots of times I have too much to do or I am in the middle of coding and it’s so much fun that I simply can’t leave it till the next day.

On the days that I do leave “early”, I either go to the gym, grocery shopping or directly home.

We go once a week grocery shopping and I try to avoid Saturdays because that’s when it is the most crowded. Since on Sunday the stores are closed, that leaves only work days. We usually have a small dinner before shopping, this is a good trick to avoid buying too many things (Never go grocery shopping when hungry!) and like this we don’t have to prepare dinner on that evening. Since we buy the same groceries most of the times, we are in & out in 30-60 minutes usually, unless I get the sudden mood to snoop around in the super market (check new items, read nutrition labels,…) which I do sometimes and that’s when we end up staying for up to 2 hours! This is when my bf searches the sitting areas and the refreshment stations in the super market. We once got funny looks from the cashier as she took an empty Coke bottle and asked us if we really stayed so long in there that we needed something to drink.

On other evenings (3-4 times per week) I go to the gym. I either do a Pilates or Yoga class or do weight training, which takes about 60-90 minutes plus 30-60 minutes shower and such.

20:00 – 23:00 >> Live Life

We sometimes meet with friends over dinner and go to the cinema afterwards. Otherwise I am usually home around this time relaxing, perhaps watching TV or something on the Apple TV/Watchever or reading a book. On these evenings, I either go out for dinner with my bf once in awhile or he picks up something on the way home from work or we just order in. We also have leftovers from the weekend or just whip up a salad quickly. We try to keep it light in the evening!

I know this sounds so boring and monotonous (except perhaps for coding and working out) but I compensate it on the weekends with city visits, trips to the mountains, gaming on the Xbox, TV series marathons and lots more.

The winter is usually so cold and depressing, I also hate that it gets dark so soon, I just want to go and hibernate till spring!

How does your day look like? How do you break the monotony in your everyday life?