Two weeks ago I posted about establishing a streak. I was on a roll. February started off great.
Then in the span of less than a week, everything seemed to fall apart. Due to some intense work deadlines, I went to work early on Thursday, Friday and Monday, sacrificing workouts each day. Use of my daylight therapy lamp waned. I missed meditating at least half of the mornings in the past week. Tuesday when I ended up working from home due to weather, I could have exercised and/or meditated at the end of the day in what would have been commute time, but the thought didn't even occur to me.
I've been terrific about hitting snooze on my alarm only once. I broke that streak on Tuesday too.
I posted Facebook Live videos for the first eight days in February, and then only one more in the next four days.
After being really purposeful about putting together outfits every day this winter, I defaulted to sweat pants all day on Saturday, in spite of being out of the house several times. This is fine, except then on Sunday after church I changed into a different pair of sweats, and by the end of the day felt like an unmotivated slob.
And while I wasn't dressing well this weekend, I didn't eat well either. I could probably count the fruits and vegetables consumed on one hand. Meanwhile, the count of fatty, sweet and salty foods may not fit on all my fingers or toes.
Sigh.
Well, I can whine about it, or I can do something about it. A few years ago, after breaking all of my good habits, I might have abandoned some or most of them. But just as my mindfulness practice has taught me to "Go back to the breath" over and over and over again if I get distracted, I've learned to go back to the habits I know work for me. And instead of making excuses for why I have broken those habits (weather! deadlines! a need to ease up on myself!), I'm going to focus on why I want to keep them:
When I exercise, my body feels better, I have more energy and I eat better.
When I eat better, I feel better about myself.
When I get up after only one snooze, I feel good about myself and get more done.
When I meditate, I feel like I am taking a purposeful approach to my day.
When I choose outfits carefully, I feel good every time I pass by a mirror.
When I use the daylight therapy lamp, I know I am taking care of my mental well-being.
Huh. Look at how they're all connected. The good news about that is that once I put one or two of those healthy habits back in place, I can get the others more easily into place too. So yesterday I got up on time, meditated, used the lamp, dressed deliberately, went to the fitness center, and made healthier choices. I feel better already.
Have you abandoned your resolutions? Have you broken some good habits?
Remember your why and get back on track.
Photo by Cory Woodward on Unsplash