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It’s time for my first update. As is customary my initial effort for #In90Days is lacking. If your new to this challenge you can learn more here. Luckily I knew this going in. When we try to overhaul our life I think the biggest struggle is making sense of our high goals and moderate expectations. You can’t just focus on the ideal perfect outcome anymore than you can stare at the pretty likely low success rate. You must charge ahead toward the ideal, while keeping in mind that it will take time to build up speed. Even though I thought all of this through when I started, I still stumbled along when it didn’t talk off very well.
First let me tell you how I did.
Get Up Early – 5/14
This is my worst one. There are several things that compounded making this a pain point, but I am giving myself grace. I am a night owl by nature, and my son takes his sweet time going to sleep. I think there are many reasons this is a particularly hard one. It is affected by so many other forces. Getting up an hour early is not at all productive if you spend the whole hour trying to wake yourself up. So for this to be worth it you have to go to bed early enough to still get a good amount of sleep. Which means I have to find time to do the things I need to before bed even earlier. Still trying to line all that up.
Water – 10/14
I am so surprised this one front runner. In the past I have been TERRIBLE at water. Once years ago a friend, who is a nurse, asked me how much water I drink. ( I am really embarrassed by this story, but I want to show fellow soda drinkers that you can balance what you drink.) I told her that I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I had had water. It wasn’t days or weeks, but probably months back. She was horrified, but tried to hide it, and honestly I was too. I immediately added it to my diet, but it still wasn’t often or consistent. Today I know the benefits, and how bad all the coke I was drinking is. So I put this one at top priority.
Activity – 6/14
I am not a sports, go run, get outside person. I am a sit and read for hours person, but even that rarely happens. Most of my time is spent managing a tiny human, and I don’t think that really counts as activity for the point of this. A couple of time we had dance parties, or I did yoga on the days I actually got up an hour early, but I haven’t found the right system for this yet.
Cut the Crap – 14/14
Yes! I am so proud of this one. And when I tell you what I cut out this month some of you may laugh or think that isn’t hard enough. That’s ok. This one is hard for me, but it is something I knew I could crush, and I want to start showing myself that I can keep my promises to myself. So I cut candy.
I have gotten into the habit of having one or two or four pieces for “dessert” after a meal. This is the hardest at work. I would keep a big bag of mini chocolates and eat a few every day. Not horrible, but not good either. So when I started I took all the candy home for Derek to finish and I found I spend so much time getting my water in that it hasn’t been too bad. I even have a small bag of candy a friend got me for my birthday that I haven’t even opened. I’m so excited to crack that baby open in July!
Gratitude – 7/14
This one I am pretty mad at myself about. The first week I was really making time for it, bit this is held back by our night time snuggles too. This is the area of our routine that Derek and I are trying to fix right now. We’ve let ourselves get into a few ruts that need to be evened out.
That was a lot of detail, but I think it’s good in the beginning especially to really access each one so I can problem solve.
So let me share a few things that are helping.
- Measure out the number of ounces you need and find a system with specific water bottles. I have one at home and one at work that I use.
- I removed all the candy from my reach the first week especially to keep the habit from catching me.
- I substituted the crap with healthier options that filled the habit in my eating.
I have a few more ideas but I didn’t stick with them this section. Hopefully I’ll see some improvement for my next check in.
Let me know what you think I should try next and use the hashtag if your joining in.