While I was reading The Happiness Project, I felt very inspired. I immediately started cleaning out my closets and reorganizing my drawers. I am not a person who does well with clutter, and I know it is one of those things that makes me feel weighed down. I started thinking about my own life, and what things I could be doing better.
There are so many things that I would like to accomplish this year, but sometimes the buzz of life interferes. I get caught up with working long hours and in my long commute to and from work. I come home and I am tired. The weekends are busy, and we don't always have time for proper grocery shopping. I end up eating takeout or grilled cheese, or sometimes even cereal for dinner. I have lots of blog posts planned, but don't always have time to sit and compose them. I end up feeling like I am giving everything in my life a little, but not really giving anything my all.
So I have decided to try to tackle a few things at time. I have created some monthly resolutions and documented them here. I have also printed them out in a place where I have to look at them every day in my home. At the end of the month I will take an honest look at how it went and any positive (or negative) impacts it has made on my life. It all starts for me here today.
May Resolutions
1) Drink...more water: It isn't that I am drinking other beverages. It is that I do not consume enough water during the day. I must be walking around dehydrated, because I can sometimes eat my lunch at work without taking so much as a sip of water.
2) Coffee does not a breakfast make: I have gotten into a bad habit during the work week of grabbing a coffee in the morning and calling that breakfast. It is quick and easy, and totally not the healthiest way to go. What do you grab for breakfast when you are on the go? I would love some new (healthy) suggestions. My usual go-to is fruit and yogurt, but I like a little more variety in my life.
3) Finish the front yard: Husband and I have a lot of half finished projects around our house. I would like to finish one of them (and we are so close here). In theory, this should be an easy one to knock out, but other chores always seem to get in the way. I am making this a priority. (OK, you could argue that this is more of a goal than a resolution, but I am hoping it will lead to the completion of many more projects around my home. Maybe this resolution will be called "Finish What We Start" in the future.)
4) Go to bed earlier: I admit that when it comes to bedtime, I am suddenly five years old. I fight it. It takes me forever to decide to go to bed, and once I am there I tend to play with my phone and get up to pee several times and pretty much do anything but try to go to sleep. So I am going to make an effort to be in bed by 10:30 on weeknights, and actually try to go to sleep. This is going to be the hardest resolution for me to follow by far, but I am going to go for it anyway.
5) Get Meatball through his recovery: I mentioned a while ago that my American Bulldog, "Meatball", (pictured above) needed to have major surgery to repair his cruciate ligament (the equivalent to a person tearing their ACL). His surgery is scheduled for a week from Friday, and he has to be still for 8 weeks after. He is a very active dog, and this is not going to be an easy task, but I wanted to dedicate myself to helping him through his recovery. It is going to be a long road.
So what about you? What is weighing you down right now? What is it that you want to change in your life this month?
13 comments:
Wow. This post hit home!
I am also reading The Happiness Project now. I am also not good with clutter but usually I am a very neat person, there are those nooks and niches in the apt which tend to get cluttered though.
I am working on that with the big Spring cleaning.
I should also drink more water (I am very bad with the drinking thing) and go to bed earlier.
One of the things I accomplished is to get a new design for my blog, which after a 2 month long process, happened yesterday. There are a few tiny things that need to be worked out but the majority works right now.
I really did a good job on the diet part. No more junk. Now I want to get back on track witch my workout. This is my big goal for May :)
For breakfast: I wouldn´t make it without eggs. I just scramble 2 of them (or sometimes 1 whole egg and 1 egg white), add a little salt and dried chilis, not the flakes! and put them on a slice of whole wheat bread - still hot.
So that´s yummie, the right thing in the morning and really satisfying!
On some days I like to have smoothies, too!
Have a great day!
Martie* xoxo
I really need to sit down and make a list like this. Life has gotten crazy over the past few months and it would be good to reassess. Good luck reaching your goals!
i'm the same way with water and getting to bed earlier. i was doing better with the water and then...no dice.
for breakfast i suggest oatmeal (pick some up while getting coffee from starbucks), or trader joe's vanilla greek yogurt with a handful of granola or a favorite cereal. it's important to eat carbs in the morning, both provide a lot of fiber, and the latter choice provides a great source of protein. all great ways to start off your day.
Keep a dog still for 8 weeks? How is that possible? Poor Puppy, I hope his surgery goes well. Drinking enough water makes such a difference in how you feel. Living in a hot country has definitely taught me that.
Good luck with the resolutions, Erin. They all sound great not just for you but for a lot of us who get bogged down with day-today responsibilities. As for me, the drinking-enough-water is always a struggle, as I love love love coffee too that I end drinking that more:( I'll really try to change this.
Love that you wrote down your resolutions! I'm on the same boat with breakfast, I need to find something else to eat besides fruit and omelet.
but coffee is soooo much more fun than water!
Sleeping earlier would be good (as always). I think I want to push myself harder as far as physical exertion. I don't have the strength that I wish I could have
Good for you! I'm sure writing this all out like this will help you. It's a good idea that I should take up. Included on my list, as they are on yours is to drink more water. I can get to the end of the day and remember I haven't had any all day. It's crazy. Also, clearing up my clutter is a must do. My room is a mess and really needs a good going over. So there, with your inspiration, I've just written out a couple of my resolutions! Good luck sticking to yours and hope Meatball's surgery goes well.
loulou
drinking more water and going to bed early is also top of my to-do list. it's funny how such small things can be such a difficult habit to break
it's hard isn't it? to avoid being stuck in the rut of monotony. like u, i work and go to school so I rarely have the time to think about me.
Thanks for your sweet comment on my blog! I totally agree with you about drinking more water, that's what I've been trying to do lately. I kept getting lots of headaches because I was getting dehydrated during the day, but that rarely happens any more - so it must be doing me some good!
xxx
Yikes. After reading this post i think we could be twins separated at birth....
It is tough to prioritize sometimes. I have been taking a huge plastic jug to work that holds exactly 8 glasses of water to work... what you are supposed to have in a day and it takes me 2 days to drink it.
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