Temporary? Insanity

I’m really enjoying participating in Lara’s Smart Habit Saturday phenomenon. I’m noticing the signs of fan-dom emerging. The slightly concussed look (glazed eyes, drool on the chin, that sort of thing…), and the desire to “share the joy” with everyone I know.

It just feels so good to making small, reasonable, achievable goals! Every day one of my new habits feels more…well, habitual, I feel like doing a little dance and calling everyone I know to brag about it.

I managed to resist the urge to call, but here’s my braggin’ blog post!

Week 1: Exercise 20-30 minutes six days a week. So I flubbed this up by getting sick, but now that I’m hale and hearty again, I’m managing 20 minutes a day on my air strider. Looking forward to longer workouts once I organize my time better! This doesn’t feel like a habit yet…it’s still a struggle and I have to really force myself to do it. Not that I don’t enjoy it once I start, it’s just getting started that’s the tricky part. But soon, dear friends, it will be a habit!

Week 2: Daily Blogging. I’ve definitely made huge strides in the blogging department, but I’m not quite up to every day yet. As I’ve attempted to come up with posting material on a daily basis, I’ve realized that I don’t really want to blog daily. It takes too much time and too much material away from my e-mail correspondences. So I’ve decided to blog every other day, and to e-mail friends and family on the alternate days. I think this will help me balance my internet life and I’m excited to have figured out a system that will keep me on track.

Extra Habit: Now I know it’s best to pick one a week, but I added Daily Flossing to my habit list and couldn’t see the point of waiting till Week 3 to start. I have flossed every day for a week! Whoohoo! I could call that my Week 3 habit, but it’s already got that habitual air about it and I want to start something new.

Week 3: I pondered quite a bit about what to chose this week. I’ve got some larger habits I’d like to establish, and a plethora of teeny tiny ones. I want to chose something that will improve my life drastically this week, since I’m feeling all happy and energetic and such like. So I’ve decided to shoot for Early to Bed, Early to Rise. Currently, I go to bed between 11 and midnite, and my kids are my alarm clocks (usually around 8am or so). I want to get to bed a wee bit earlier, and get up at least half and hour before the kids do. I think this is going to be even harder than exercising! And it’s not something I can necessarily do in one fell swoop. I think there’ll be a gradual progression to this one, but as I’ve realized that straight off, I’m hoping I won’t get discouraged.

So as you can see, my habits, like myself, are a work in progress. There is so much joy though in attempting. I’ve spent so much of my life in the “Don’t Try Don’t Fail” mentality, and it feels fantastic to be shaking it off! I’m happier, more motivated (because my goals are realistic for once!), and I lost a pound this week!

To those of you who haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, I say, “Leap!” Click the title of this blog post and get the details of how to join in. I don’t want to pull the all too corny, “You too can be just like me!” line on you, because that’ll send you off running and screaming, but seriously, it feels good. It doesn’t make sense mathematically, but small steps equate to big joy!