My Month as a Self Optimized Woman
In her book, Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino talked about the Self Optimizing Woman — ie:
“The same question also pushes through “Always Be Optimizing,” which delves into the aesthetics of the modern woman’s “ideal life”: sweating it out at Pure Barre on your lunch break, then refueling at Sweetgreen with a salad designed to be eaten in 10 minutes flat, wearing athleisure the whole time, all the better to discipline oneself to efficiently perform office work while also efficiently adhering to contemporary beauty standards. All of these are routines Tolentino describes as degrading and dehumanizing, but routines with which she is intimately familiar.”
Perhaps it is the haze of January that’s alive in my life that I’m still on this fitness kick and with that comes a whole truck load of optimization that I am able to check things one by one. In Q4 of last year, I was lucky if I worked out at all for the week. But ever since 2020 kicked in, I’ve been working out at least 4x a week. Maybe it was also being called “big” by relatives over Christmas. I decided to truly up my game in January and that includes all of the following steps:
Taking Apple Cider Vinegar shots every day + Myo Inositol for PCOS
Skipping rice completely and avoiding sugar and other carbs.
Doing 3x Cardio and 3x Resistance Training every week
Getting minimum of 7 hours sleep and a score of 75+ on Fitbit for sleep
Eating fruits and vegetables every day
Actually getting work done and not obsess about weight, BMI, BMR, Body Fat % etc
Drinking whey protein and BCAA before and during workouts.
I did learn a couple of lessons on what it means and what it takes to be an optimized woman because I didi feel fully optimized those weeks and months, TBH. Now that I feel things are normalizing, I want to share the lessons to the internet.
Lessons Learned:
Being fully optimized for the past two months meant I would maximize my time by making sure I finished work on time. I wanted to workout on time and sleep on time so yes, I was on time for work too! Every day!
I do feel that I was sharper with my productive hours and I had better moods. In the whole of January up to this day which is February 26th, I only cried 1 day. Not that crying is any indication of moodiness but I’m usually very good at managing emotions. In fact, people always compliment me for sounding very nice when I know in my head that I am not feeling kind towards something or someone.
I realized that at least where I live (MNL, PH) it is only possible to be optimized with a househelp. Or if you live in a household that lets you benefit from a househelp. Or if you’re lucky enough not have to manage a household. Other than that, it’s pretty hard to optimize, prepare meals, take supplements, sleep 8 hours (on a telco career) without an assistant or househelp. Scenes from Parasite come into mind LOL but my simple take on it is: I give our household staff decent necessities and go as far as sending their kids to school and providing them simple luxuries like smart phones. We do what we can.
Self Optimization meant a lot of discipline. AND THAT WAS HARD. Most of the time, fitness and aesthetics is really more of what we eat and being in a full blown lifestyle brand with an active social life, it is pretty hard to avoid eating sugar. I had to wring my hands just so I won’t eat a cronut (check back in an hour as I will pass by Wildflour on the way to Lagree so EEK!).
Conclusion: I want to keep doing this for as long as I can though at some point, I have to normalize my fitness expenses. I also have to recover more, like now I am a bit sore from pushing myself hard in Lagree and I can feel my muscles possibly growing but wow my body hurts.
I also hope to increase my financial influx so I can keep affording this lifestyle and still achieve my financial goals. Oh to be optimized!
But also I want to forgive myself in advance in case I eventually get tired. I am just human after all.