I have added a widget to my phone's home screen that tells me how many days I have left in the challenge. Today marks 966 days remaining - that means I'm already 34 days or 3.4% into the challenge already! How's it going?
As expected, it's really hard! I started with a hiss and a roar and full compliance with all my project categories, and into week two, some standard life got in the way and I found myself slipping quickly into old habits and losing grasp of this lofty and intense challenge I set for myself. And here I am, still me. The same me I always was, and always will be. There's no point pretending I can turn into a different person. Instead, I need to accept that this will be hard every day, and that I just have to keep showing up. Perfection isn't the goal. Discernible positive change over time is.
Wins
I have seen plenty of wins so far:
- My workouts are consistently getting stronger.
- I've signed up for a walking challenge next month, where I walk the equivalent of a Marathon during May. It's not a huge challenge, but it's the sort of action I want to be taking to build some accountability.
- I'm generally getting to bed earlier, and when that works, I'm getting up at 5.
- I haven't had any alcohol since the challenge started (not such a big deal, I took three months off last year without breaking a sweat).
- I'm performing much better at my day job.
- I've read more books than I would have otherwise done.
Biggest Opportunities
The clearest areas I need to work on are:
- Phone time/doomscrolling. This is the biggest single thing taking time away from more important things.
- Snacking. It's a lifelong habit - I have a sweet tooth. I need to rein this in. When I've had success with this in the past, I think better, sleep better and have more energy.
- Identifying when I'm slipping, and finding the discipline to lock back in.
Tomorrow morning when I wake up, I'll be focussing on what I put into my body, both food and information. That can be my main focus for the coming week.
Old Blog Posts
A while ago, I removed all the old blog posts for this site. Today I reinstated them, as they show that I've been working on making changes for a long time. They might as well serve as a record of my many attempts. I've given up on beating myself up for not sticking with changes. Instead I'm focussing on getting back on track when I catch myself slipping.