Hello everyone! I’ve recently finished a 4-day fast. The last time I fasted was in August 2022, and I try to do a fast every 4 months in order to heal my body. During the time of fasting I only drink water and abstain from eating any foods.
This time I ordered some electrolytes for day 3 and 4 to make those final days a bit easier. My head will sometimes hurt during a fast and having these electrolytes helped alleviate those pains significantly, so I recomend some if you want to do extended fasts. You can also use salt and lemon to make electrolyte drinks if you don’t want to have to order anything.
https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-I-V-Multiplier-Electrolyte-Supplement/dp/B07HCNM7KQ/
During my fast I mainly rested and bathed in the sunlight. I also read some eBooks and focused on language learning. I finished The King Will Kill You: The Kingdoms of the Sand & Sky Book Three by Sarah Henning. It was a great end to a series I started reading in 2021. Additionally I started a book on evolution called The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal About Aliens — and Ourselves by Arik Kershenbaum, who explained that life across the universe would like ly share some similar functions.
I continued learning Ukrainian on Duolingo during this time, and I also decided to learn some Chinese characters on Duolingo so that I’d be able to talk to my family, as I’m fluent in speaking but don’t have much vocabulary. I was able to pick up a lot quickly. I also used the Drops app to learn more Tagalog, as there’s a dog charity I support that I will be visiting probably later in 2023.
During the 4th and final day of my fast, I paid a visit to the Holodomor Monument in Grand Park of Downtown Los Angeles. I left sunflowers there in remembrance to all those who died of famine in 1932 and 1933.
A 4-day fast was difficult for me, but some live with the realities of hunger every day and it isn’t their choice. Many lack adequate food worldwide and suffer from malnutrition. During this time of fasting, my empathy for them increased and I wanted to do more to alleviate food scarcity and help those who were struggling and homeless. I remembered the homeless man on my street and promised to myself that I will give him more food, bedding, and one day get him a room.
Waking up on the 5th day, I broke my fast with dragonfruit, a very delicious fruit! My friend also got me oatmeal and a bagel at starbucks.
During this fast I had many realizations about the future path that I wanted to take.
I’ve decided that I would no longer offer homework completion services and instead focus on actual tutoring of students and helping them to learn. While the school system has many problems and I don’t agree with the current systems of grading, it would be hard to change it from the bottom-up while doing services that help students complete their homework or tests. Even in an imperfect environment, plenty of learning is possible, and in the future I want to create deeper connections with students and the school system in order to change things for the better.
I’ve also opened up a Discord server where people may receive free math help:
https://discord.com/invite/xJKwxMeQy8
Furthermore, I’ve realized my love for writing and addressing important events and issues in our world. Although I’ve had some ideas for fictional stories, I’ve realized that I don’t long for those as much anymore. The real events in our world are so captivating and more interesting than what goes on in any video game, movie, or fictional novel. Thus, I’ve decided to not engage in fiction anymore on my own free time, but of course if friends invite me to watch or play something every now and then I would be happy to do it.
Overall, I want to keep helping Ukrainians. They’ve been deeply effected by the war, and need much support.
I participate in the ENGin program to help teach Ukrainians English, and unfortunately one of my students was reassigned:
I really enjoyed speaking with her, and hope to be able to do so again one day. But I was reassigned a new student recently and she is a very nice person as well, and was surprised at what I knew about the Ukrainian language and culture, but to me it’s very inspirational that my 3 students speak English so well and are so confidfent in speaking it.
Returning from Texas, I’ve really began to enjoy the sunlight in Los Angeles again, and I’m feeling motivated to keep helping others. I’ve scheduled my next platelet donation now, feeling that it’s especially important for me to help cancer patients who may not have gotten a fair chance at life. There were times when I was really sick, and I promised if I got out of it then I would live a life where I’d always help others. I won’t forget that as I move forward.
