Good morning! Here we are day 3 into the first round of my personal experiment. So far so good, but really anyone should be able to do make it 3 days.
Here is what I've challenged myself with and why:
Get up an hour before the rest of the house:
Since deciding to leave work and be a stay at home, I've become lazy. I sleep late (in terms of late for having young kids that need to go to school). I set the alarm clock with the intention of getting up but once it's screaming at me to wake up, the sleepy Christina (an agent of Satan), begins whispering things like "you don't really need to wake up now. What's another 20 minutes? You deserve more sleep." It is to the point that I literally do not wake up until I have exactly enough time to wake up the kids, feed them, brush their teeth, pack backpacks and get them out the door. Once they are off, I begin my own wake up process of casually drinking 2-3 cups of coffee over the morning news show while scrolling Facebook. It's almost 9:00 am before I'm even ready to shower and get dressed. The late start has a domino effect into the rest of my day, making me much less productive.
I've successfully been able to get up on time for the past 3 days. Yes, throw me a parade now for how awesome I am. How have I done it? First, I am setting my clothes out the night before. The idea is that when I do get up, I can just grab my clothes pile and hit the shower right away. Pretty much making sure that I wake up before my tired brain convinces me to go back to sleep. I also set the alarm clock an hour earlier than my hour early time, if that makes sense. My autopilot continues to hit snooze for some time, but when I'm finally semi-alert and can actually wake up I'm not late.
It's unbelievable how just getting an early start has helped. I've been able to get showered, dressed, blow dry/style my hair, put on my makeup (ha! my husband will think this is a case of the body snatchers), and put the coffee on all before anyone else wakes up. And because I'm motivated and moving, that inertia continues throughout my morning. I have only watched the first 15 minutes of the news over coffee and then jumped right into my daily chores.
Clearly the process itself works. It is just a matter of following through for another 63 days.
Drink a gallon of water every day:
This is pretty self-explanatory. Everyone knows that staying hydrated is good for your health. I bought a 32 oz. cup with a cover. I'm drinking four of these cups a day. I have a habit of reaching for a snack when I am bored or stressed out, so whenever I get that urge, I just grab my water bottle and chug. I'm spending more time in my bathroom - guess I'll be adding a few home improvement projects to my list this year.
Cut down on my calorie and sugar intake every day:
I'm terrible at dieting. Even though I've never been a junk food junkie, I still indulge in some hearty snacking. I also LOVE bread, wine and coffee. Whenever I jump on a new diet, I struggle because I feel like I'm depriving myself which makes me want to eat/drink even more.
Instead of dieting, I figured that I could make some small changes to reduce my calorie and sugar intake. First, no more bread. I've switched to low-fat whole-wheat wraps for sandwiches. Skip the toast with breakfast. Second, adjust my coffee. I usually drink 2-3 cups every morning with 2 tsps. of sugar and a heavy hand of hazelnut creamer. Do the math and see how many of my daily calories and sugar are consumed just in coffee. I purchased Splenda to replace my sugar and unflavored non-dairy creamer at 10 calories a tsp. Easy enough way to cut down. Granted the coffee does not taste nearly as good, so I anticipate my caffeine intake is going to be cut down as well since I won't be drinking as much coffee.
As far as the wine is concerned, well... not sure that this Momma is ready to part with her friend. But since its not something I drink every day, I'm okay with that.
Write every day:
I've always wanted to be a writer. I can still remember my first word processor as a young girl. While other girls may have been playing with Barbie, I was up in my room pecking out short stories on a tiny 3 line screen. I excelled at writing in both high school and college. Unfortunately, since then I've let it slip. As you tell from reading this blog I'm quite rusty.
Thus, this blog was born. I hope to use this blog as exercise - a way to sharpen my skills and find my way back to my writer's voice. In time, I hope to dive back into short stories and work my way up to the novel I have always intended to write.
So there we have it.
It doesn't seem like much when I put it down in writing. But, trust me considering everything else I do in my day to keep my house clean and my kids properly cared for, these are challenges.
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