Overall, I was surprised to find that I felt sudden energy for all sorts of things that I wasn't focusing on this month, as though by beginning to be proactive in one area of life (let's call it personal productiveness), I found some space for other areas - or at least, time to think about them and start making pathways into them (fodder for my future months' resolutions). I had a sort of internal shift that allowed me to think more positively, be more productive, and enjoy life more (hurrah, the happiness project is working already!).
Now, to report on my resolutions:
- Get enough sleep. As I mentioned before, the nights when I was in bed by 10 (and usually asleep by 10:15) I felt so much better the next day; but as the month went on I pushed it later and later, and now I'm definitely feeling more tired. I did a decent job of staying away from screens after 9pm, until the last week, when I've been antsy to find a home for us and have been searching the internet too late every night.
- Write a to-do list. I did this almost every day to great effect, and I'm definitely going to continue with it. I didn't always do everything on the list, but the act of writing it the night before forced me to envision the following day, which allowed me to get at least a smidgeon more done than I otherwise would have - and reminded me of important things that my baby brain probably would have forgotten.
- Exercise and practice yoga. Thank goodness for the NY Times 7-Minute Workout! It's fairly easy to squeeze a 7-minute workout into pretty much any day (not that I did; I'd give myself a 75% on this, but that's much better than the 0% I had before this month!). At the beginning of the month I could do 7 military pushups, now I can do 11 - so that's progress, even if it isn't huge. And I managed to practice yoga more than I have in quite a long time, too. Surely these little bursts of exercise contributed to both my overall increase in energy and my boost in mood.
- Meditate. I've been really good about meditating for five minutes almost every evening. I wrote here about an app I've been using, and while I've enjoyed it, I do feel that the way forward for me is just sitting...focusing on the breath...refocusing on the breath...refocusing on the breath...refocusing on the breath (you get the point). While I can't quite say whether this is doing me any good or enhancing my life in any way, I'm glad that it's become a regular part of my life and I'm going to keep up with it, adding a couple minutes so that I'm meditating seven minutes a day.
- Look nice (or at least try). I pretty much failed on both accounts. While I really do want to own and wear nicer clothes and take some pride in my appearance (hair, skin, nails), I just can't be bothered. I tried to go shopping twice with Leif in tow, but it was so stressful that I aborted the mission and went home both times (Leif rarely sleeps in his stroller, as I may have mentioned). However, this is something that I do want to work on and may revisit in a future month.
- Go on a weekly self-date to a cafe or museum. Fail. I did, however, make a new friend whom I met for coffee (with Leif) twice, and that's just about as good for my happiness and emotional well-being as anything else.
- Write a meal plan. Major win! We have a few new cookbooks and each week I pick 4-5 recipes from one of them. I do the planning on Saturday nights and we try to do the shopping on Sundays. This has been so wonderful for us - we're eating delicious, nutritious food, trying more ingredients, and enjoying meals so much more. Augie has hardly touched anything we've made, but I wasn't expecting much else; he's always been a picky eater.
For February I'm working on getting my marriage together, so look out for a new set of resolutions in the next few days.
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