Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs From the moment we come of age, we’re told that discipline is what makes a good life. You wake up early, you go to work, you eat healthily, you exercise when you can. So long as you avoid giving into cravings too much (sugar, caffeine, alcohol), and instead do things that will benefit you in the long term (running, meeting deadlines, sleep), you should be fine. But what if we’re approaching the “good life” in all the wrong ways? What if, and bear with me here, the good life can actually be achieved by listening to your body and doing whatever you feel like, whenever you feel like it?Many of us have heard of intuitive eating, the anti-diet diet in which you’re supposed to eat when you’re hungry. But what about the lesser-known intuitive living, which is essentially the same concept, applied to… your entire life? As life coach Pandora Paloma writes in her book Intuitive Living, “We’re bombarded with so many messages that it’s causing a disconnect between us and what true health really is: a connection to our body’s innate wisdom.” What if, instead of being told what to crave, and what to restrict, we just did… what we felt? Yes, it sounds a little messy and unrealistic (I wanted to scream in the supermarket last week, that doesn’t mean I should have), but maybe it’s worth a try. Life is meant to be enjoyed, after all.Obviously, intuitive living is easier for me to implement—a freelance writer who doesn’t have any children—than most. But in some ways, this was the thinking behind my decision to test it out—because I can right now. When I first considered experimenting with the idea, a month seemed too long; what if I completely fell off the wagon? A week felt more doable. So, the Friday before last, I commenced my journey of intuitive living as an experiment. The only rule was: there were no rules. I was to do what I felt, when I felt like it. And though I had to stick to a few work deadlines (I’m not fully unemployed, fortunately), everything else was up to me.The first morning was easy. I didn’t set my alarm, and instead let my body wake up when it was ready to. Annoyingly, that was 7 a.m. Usually, I’d get up and make a coffee, maybe do some stretches, before embarking on what I “should” be doing (writing, replying to emails, tidying the house). But, as this was intuition week, I opened my phone and scrolled through TikTok instead. Puppy videos. Willem Dafoe fan cams. This is why me and my boyfriend really broke up. Constant, random clips that gave me a little dopamine hit with each swipe. After a while, though, I started feeling really groggy. An hour had passed, and I’d been curled up in the same position, my eyes burning whenever I closed them.
