It’s one of those boring posts about me before I come up with another one to write about the children.
Follow-through seems to have been one of the casualties of my having children, so it has been maybe more important to me than it needs to be to keep up on all my little resolutions.
I realized I didn’t make an “F” resolution name for the cleaning I have been trying to do. Let’s go with Finnicky. Our house looks at all times like a bomb has gone off. Janelle and I are not good at throwing things out. For me, it’s not a matter of attachment and more this sense that I should not be contributing to the world’s trash problem by throwing shit out. I’m getting over that, though. Obviously things we can donate we do. The rest I am learning to dispose of with prejudice. 4 days a week I have myself scheduled to clean something and I’ve been keeping pace with that. It can’t just be something like picking up toys Maya has scattered around or doing the dishes. Those are upkeep. This needs to be a new thing that I clean. So I’m making progress. A desk drawer a night. A little nook between couches that was starting to accumulate stray baby clothes. The top of a cabinet unit that makes a convenient “babies can’t reach this high” shelf.
Food – This is the one I am making the slowest progress on. I’ve been hitting my goal, but I made it too easy. So far the target was just to not eat dessert one night a week. I’ve done that, but I need to up it. So I’m going to do a night where I don’t have any snacks or anything after dinner. If that feels like too little, I’ll just toss in an extra day each week. It’s dumb that this is probably the hardest one to maintain.
Fitness – Five nights a week I have been doing between 10-20 pushups. For February I am introducing 20 sit-ups to the mix. Feeling pretty good about this one. Doesn’t take long at all, gives a nice quick pick-me-up.
Fun – I set up a board game group and started every now and then working on making the miniatures that go with the game. We had a gaming session a couple weeks back and have another scheduled for February.
Flirting – Janelle and I totally whiffed on finding a night for ourselves to do something, though. So that’s a bummer. We talked about it a couple times. *shrugs* I am less concerned about this one, but know that it would be better if we didn’t slack on it.
Focus – I don’t know that I’ve started using the phone less at this point, but I have increased other things. I have been writing more. I had set myself a pace of 5 nights a week, but I think with everything else I am cramming in, that was too much. I shifted to 3 nights a week, but with the caveat that I need to do at least one blog post each week. So, less writing required, but now with a deliverable. I have decided to shift some of my phone usage to crossword puzzles, which I really like doing. So, I’m using the phone, but at least I’m giving my brain a workout with it.
The other item I didn’t have down on the resolutions list was reading more and I’ve started doing more of that. Finished a book I bought YEARS ago and never got to, and then moved onto reading some of 2017’s best of winners in the graphic novel category. I love comics, so it’s a good way to both keep me up to date there, and reading in general. Plus, the best of lists tend to have indie darlings that I’d never hear about otherwise, so it branches me into some interesting new territory as well.
The application I use to track my habits, Streaks, is really great for building the momentum of habit tracking and provides a little carrot for me to continue hitting my targets… but it does have a bit of a flip side in that if I ever miss a single day needed (this past week I forgot to do my mini workout one of the days I was going to) and it takes my 25+ day streak and wipes it back to zero. So, makes sense, but also has a tinge of “what’s the point of trying to claw back to my previous record”. So I just need to try to uncouple the “achievement” in my mind from the value of the process, even with small setbacks included.
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