And by this I mean eleven months to go.
Can you believe that January is almost over? it was only 31 days ago that all of us were scrambling to finalize the rules we'd be forcing ourselves to follow during what is arguably one of the most scary, depressing, busy, stressful, positive, and life changing months of the year! I can tell you that I pretty much fell under the typical pattern of self destruction that most people statistically do. I had a wonderful first week, where I exercised for an hour almost every day, ate well, and followed all my rules. Then week two I somewhat slowed down due to business in my life. Then week three I pretty much came close to death after I came down with the Flu (my first time ever) and suffered from dangerously high temperatures. The last remaining days for me were spent sulking, recovering, and being gloomy. So, like so many people do in January, I stuck with my New Year's resolutions and promises for the first week, and then slowly fell off the wagon; and falling in slow motion sucks. I know that my failure wasn't entirely my fault, but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen, and that I didn't handle it poorly.
However, in February I will be accentuating the positive, eliminating the negative, drinking from a half full glass, and stopping to smell the roses from time to time.
How Embarrassing
I checked out my report card for January's Health Month, and I had A's and B's all around. As I scrolled my way to the bottom of the page, what did I see? A big fat D. I never get D's; not even when I was in college! Of all things what did I do (or not do) to receive a D?
I didn't write.
You think that I would have written often, and received a better grade for it, with all the different motivations I had for doing so! It being the beginning of a new year, my not working as much, and the fact that I agreed to blog for Health Month, I should have been writing at least every other day. I had plenty of time and reason, but I guess I had absolutely no motivation; which is unfortunate because I like to write and think that I am generally good at it.
I grovel at the feet of those I know who wrote 750 words every day for a whole month! Makes me want to do the same. I have a lot going on this month: taxes, new job, wedding planning, continuing the health improvement. I am pretty full of things that I could force myself to write about. And I know that people have suggested I just copy/paste everything I have written anywhere on the internets for that day, not matter what, and it should be 750 or more. But I like to actually write things that are real and meaningful. I tried the "writing the first things that pop in your head, even if the end result is a bunch of three sentence paragraphs about unimportant nonsense that flowed from different locals, like brain meat through a thought grinder."
Well, for February's Health Month I did decide to keep the "write 3 pages in a journal" rule, but reduced it to 4 times a week. Hopefully giving myself an extra day to slack, making my assignment to write pretty much every other day during a week, will increase the frequency of qualitative writing sessions.
And just to throw it out there, anyone can give you their reasons as to why writing a little bit on a daily basis could be good for anyone. Buster gives us a nice little explanation over at 750 words. For me, writing every day is a chore; I don't really want it to be, but for now it is a burdensome chore. However, during the times when I am not thinking of writing as such, I consider daily writing as a cathartic process. There is something fun, insightful, and enlightening about logging one's thoughts about something, then (if you're like me) reading over the writing, making edits, reviewing and reconsidering your own thoughts and ideas. I learn more about myself when I work hard to write out how I truly am feeling, but in a nice, structured, way. I don't get any benefit from writing out randomness. I already get frustrated enough by my own inability to filter my thoughts as I try to have discussions with people. Maybe why I love writing so much is because I can express what I want to, but edit myself before sharing with the world.
Because I know that writing feels good, and because I know I am incredibly lazy - enough that I avoid doing those things that have pleasant reward - sites like 750 words, with Health Month as an added regulator, help motivate me to tap away at the keyboard keys. Trust me, before Health Month and 750 words I was trying to be a blogger, but I did not write as well or as often. Now I am at least enjoying the process more than before.
A question I want to ask of you
How many Health Month players carry over and maintain rules from previous months - rules that are important to you, that are positive for you, or that tie in with new rules - even though you would follow them regardless of if you had them? For example, in my case, I always have "take a multi daily" even though I would likely do so without the rule. I'm also keeping "smoke 0 cigarettes a week" because I quit smoking at the beginning of January, even though I am pretty sure I will not pick up a cigarette ever again. I keep rules like these as a reminder of what I've accomplished, what I need to focus on, and, well, just in case I do break them, I can be penalized for it.
I've seen here and there that some people think its wrong to have rules that are pretty much "throw away for extra points" rules; rules that don't mean anything because they aren't challenging you or there to help create and maintain a change in your health. Kinda like a personal trainer having a "exercise for 30 minutes 5 days a week" or a vegetarian having "eat bright veggies every day."
Do you have rules like these? If not, do you think it is ok or not ok to have rules like these (and of course it depends entirely on certain rules applying to certain people)?
Just thought this was an interesting topic for discussion, much like the "cheating" topic. However, I completely understand that, like the issue of cheating, this regardless of how anyone feels about this issue there is no real way of fixing it, regulating it, monitoring it, or changing the game to fit it. Unfortunately the polar bear can't keep track of everything! And all this doesn't really matter. Its just interesting stuff to think about.
I guess I spend too much time thinking about the way other people think and behave. I love being a psychologist.
I hope everyone is excited about February! Be happy, don't eat too much valentines day chocolate, and be hopeful for the future, healthier, you!
Oh, spread the word that this month is Fabruary!
Your friend in health,
Megan
(1249 words!)
