Habits Saved Me :-)

oh wow!
Life has been full lately and I feel like the wheels have come off the wagon!

I have missed scheduled exercise classes!
I have eaten out (and NOT salads!)
The house?  Well.. the less said, the better...
Debt reduction - no time to be in stores - so some progress there but I am not sure I get credit for it!
Declutter?   yeah... well.... no
Crocheting and reading? Okay well they are both relaxing and things I do when I am waiting for other people so I am making progress there.
Special projects?  spiritual reading, quilting & photos....  no way..

I have been running nonstop lately doing all the things that life throws at me!

Who can think of resolutions when they are fighting fires?

     This brings home the importance of habits... now that I am taking a little breather (because the rest of the household is ASLEEP!).. I can take a minute and think about the wheels that did NOT come off the wagon!

hmmm... 

    Each day I packed food to take with me....while I may have eaten non-nutritive things while I was out... I DID have healthy choices with me and made more healthy choices because of that.

    Each day I thought of movement I COULD do... so kept the idea alive and did more than I might have.  (I took walks with my granddaughter and did pushups off the kitchen counter).  Also on Saturday when I was home, I went straight to my training schedule for my 6 mile walk...

    When I did go into a store, I picked up only what was absolutely needed (because we had run out).  I have decided not to make purchases I haven't thought about.  I created menus & freezer /pantry lists on Saturday so we had meals thought out.

    I still am working on 2 simple kitchen and bathroom cleaning habits.... hit or miss but still did them twice last week.

    I pulled my stationery bag (a zip-type plastic bag with birthday list, address book, stamps, labels, a few blank cards and a few birthday cards) and took it with me.  I actually did manage to dash off a birthday card & a couple of valentines.

   I chose easy crochet projects to take with me... things that required lots of time to do but not much thinking.

  And, of course, I carry a book with me & my notebook with daily lists & notes.


HABITS saved me! 

Which habits? 

    ***All that "choosing to carry with me".... that is an evening preparation habit.  The time in the evening after dinner clean-up is done when I ask myself... What is going on tomorrow?  What will I need?

  *** Having specific habits to work on... this gives me a narrow area of focus.  If I do these certain things, I am good.  In some ways, it limits the amount of guilt I can heap on myself :-)

    *** Self-evaluation habit ... this is a RE-FRAME of the old 'let's list all the things I did wrong' habit.  I recognize what went wrong..... and make myself do two more things: list what I did RIGHT AND list how I can make tomorrow better.

  *** Make myself and my resolutions a priority...  how this helps is that I take responsibility for myself.  I have good healthy food choices in my house.  I have a schedule for training and movement.  I do NOT blame others or life circumstances for my failure.  Actually I do not recognize failure.  As long as I am moving forward in any way... I am succeeding.... so EACH and EVERY day can be rescued :-)  (thank goodness one of my goals is reading!)


  Oops.... time's up.... the dog is barking for her morning walk.... the family is starting to wake up.... I'm off to another day of running.... now where did that mop go?

Tell me what habits you are working on..... how does your day go when circumstances change?  What do you do to rescue it?