They say it takes 21 days to create a habit. And whether or not that’s true, I’m a believer that it only takes 1 day to break a habit! It’s taken me a long time to get into my healthy routine, to get used to waking up early to get in my workout first thing, to choose healthy foods whether eating out or at the grocery store, etc…you get the gist. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have room to improve, to grow and to better myself…to create more healthy habits, if you will.
One of the things I’ve been trying to work on is taking care of my mental health – whether that be through yoga, meditation or writing. I’ve failed greatly at the meditation side of things but I’m working on the meditation and writing…or rather meditation through writing.
For the last couple months, I have been waking up a few minutes early to get in some morning journaling. Some days time only allows for 5 minutes and other days, I have more time to devote to it and more to write about and get off my chest. It’s a simple thing that I’ve come to really enjoy each morning. Some days I grab my journal and start writing before I even step foot out of bed and some days I get ready for my workout, make the bed, and then start writing. Each day might vary slightly, but the important thing is that each day it’s happening. Each day I’m taking that quiet time for myself, to reflect and to look ahead to my day.
Another healthy habit I’ve been working on, is another simple one that only takes a couple minutes. Right before bed I complete 25 sit-ups and one 60 second plank. I’ve always been self-conscious of my middle section and yet I often neglect additional core work. By ending my day with just a couple minutes, I’m making this a habit and giving my mid-section the love that it so desperately deserves. As it feels right, I’ll adjust the number of sit-ups or length of my plank, but right now this has been just the right burn before bed.
Whether it takes you 21 days, 50 days or 100 days to create a new habit, the important thing is that we are working to better ourselves with these simple healthy routines.
What healthy habits are you working on?
Joining up for TOL!
Man I should start journaling again! I bought a kind of funny one called a failure journal and you’re supposed to write down failures and what you’ve learned. I need to get on that because I’m sure I’ve failed at many things recently haha
I like the whole doing something small before bed. For awhile Dave and I were doing pull ups (well, I was doing assisted ones) on our pull-up bar located in the doorway of our closet. Those really work the abs!! Need to get back on that too! 🙂
Failure journal?! that’s incredible! haha! Ain’t nothing wrong with assisted pull-ups, girlie! 😉
getting more quality sleep – trying to stop doing work at a decent time and relax for a little bit before bed so we can get more sleep. that is what we are working on 🙂
It amazes me how hard it can be to STOP doing work at a decent time sometimes. Since your work is ALWAYS around, it feels like you ALWAYS need to do it!
A to the men. 🙂
I love that you included a focus on mental health because I feel like that’s something that way too many people neglect and just focus all their efforts on eating right and exercising, when learning to relax and deal with stress is probably way more important. I’ve fallen out of the habit of journalling in the morning, but it’s something I really want to get back in to — I found that it really helped me set the right tone for the rest of the day.
Eating right and exercising are just TWO parts of maintaining a healthy body! But you need ALL the puzzle pieces (mental health included) to be at your best!