They say it takes 21 days to make something become a habit in your life. I'm looking to make a habit in a week. Habits of course, can be good our bad. Let's for now, just think of them as good things. You know, flossing your teeth every day, washing your hands after you use the bathroom, eating five servings of vegetables daily, balancing your checkbook, those types of things. At 32 years old, there are a lot of things that I still don't have as 'habits' in my life (please note- I do wash my hands after using the bathroom, but those other things I just mentioned...it can be hit or miss!). If you're anything like me, you probably resolve to do or not do various things throughout the year, culminating in the ultimate day of resolutions- New Years Day. The idea for doing this came about a few months ago as I was thinking about 2011 and all the things I want to do more of or differently in 2012. I had an honest conversation with myself that went something like this:
Disciplined Vanessa: "You know, the new year will be here before you know it."
Free Spirited Vanessa: "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll think about it after I bake some cookies."
Disciplined Vanessa: "You would be smart to start thinking about it now. In fact, why don't you just pretend that tomorrow is New Year's and start doing all those things you keep putting off!"
Free Spirited Vanessa: "You're so boring. And who pretends that November 3 is New Year's? What a weirdo."
Disciplined Vanessa: "Just remember that time tested Marine saying, 'Prior proper planning prevents piss poor performance.' Marines aren't boring are they? There is nothing wrong with being organized and planning ahead. You might just accomplish some things you've always wanted to do!"
Free Spirited Vanessa: "You are right, but I never keep my resolutions. They are usually too hard or too dull. I want resolutions to be fun!"
Disciplined Vanessa: "You are missing the point. Enjoy your cookies, you'll be sorry in about two months. I'm off to eat a salad."
We can probably all relate to the problem of resolutions being too hard to keep, and that's why we don't keep them! Sometimes we resolve to do things that are just too far out of our normal lives to realistically work for us, or we set too lofty a goal and are easily disappointed when it is unattainable in our impatient timeframe. I find that many small things are simply overlooked. I may want to do something but just don't think to weave it slowly and steadily into my daily routine, or weekly routine (because come on, who really can do it all- no one).
Priorities matter a lot, and we have to be real with ourselves- if we want to run a marathon, we have to make it a priority to train, and other things will have to be set aside in order to accomplish that goal. Last time I checked, there was only 24 hours in a day!
For me, I love to do a little bit of everything, which makes me not particularly great at anything. It also makes it really hard because I have so many projects, activities, ideas, recipes, instruments, hobbies, that I want to do and work on, that getting overwhelmed can defeat me from accomplishing anything.
So, my plan for 2012 is to spend each week doing a new or different thing for seven straight days. Some weeks will be fun and delicious, other weeks will be sobering and challenging. When I began a list of things to do in 2012 it hit me that I could probably be disciplined to do anything hard or complicated for one week, and then after that, I'd probably fall off the proverbial wagon, so to speak.
Some of the things on my list are little, personal things, like getting into the habit of flossing my teeth every day, just like my dentist tells me to do. I plan to keep my teeth for at least another 50 years, so I'd better get cracking! No more of this once a week or "when I remember" flossing business, I want to be an A+ flosser! This is a habit I hope to cultivate and keep. There are other things though, that I would just like to try, not necessarily to do forever, but just to experience. I want to eat for a week on $5 a day, to see how creative I can be and remind me how blessed I am. I want to try a week 'unplugged' from my computer. I want to do the newspaper crossword every day for a week. None of these things are earth shattering, but overall, I want to spend my year doing new things and working on some better habits in my life.
I invite you to enjoy my year with me, I'm sure it will be amusing! So here is to my resolution revolution, one week at a time!
No comments:
Post a Comment