Hard As F$**

Two weeks ago I was jumping up and down in Ft. Myers dreaming big and owning the word grace. Today, I’m sitting in a dimly lit coffee shop devouring a delicious latte contemplating the complexities of habit forming. Later today, I’ll be purchasing a copy of the Power of Habits for fear my local library will start to set limitations on the number of times you can renew or recheck out the same book.

I doubt y’all are anxiously awaiting news of whether this transformation atRISE will stick. But, for me, writing about it holds me accountable. Truth be told, it is baby steps. Think, Paul Abdul’s song lyrics of “I take two steps forward, I take two steps back…” from her hit song Opposites Attract playing out over and over again at Moon Lake Estates.

What does that mean? Let’s see… I drove my co-workers crazy playing the Spotify playlist from Ft. Myers. Turns out that jumping up and down and jamming to music is fun but unfortunately, not an effective and efficient way to remain a productive contributor at one’s day job. I now limit that playlist to my morning routine and running. Yep. I’m running again. But, just 10-15 minute spurts, 4-days per week. We’ll see where this goes but I’m challenging myself to make that 15 minutes count. And then there is the water drinking. I challenged a co-worker (they are amazingly good sports) to a water drinking contest in which we are confident we did more damage to our kidneys in a single day than a weekend bender would have done… but I did manage to hit triple digits in ounces that afternoon. That said, I’ve scaled that goal back to a realistic but noble intake of 72 ounces of water per day.  My success rate right now is about 50%. As for getting up an hour early? Nada. But, I am getting up 15-minutes early and forcing myself to write down things I’m grateful for, which is particularly difficult that early in the morning.

And that brings me to the battle with healthy food habits. I started with breakfast. I’ve now re-engineered what I eat in the morning and I feel that’s working. I’ve also made a commitment to record everything I eat with the understanding that there is no right or wrong. But instead, I just need to understand what’s going on. The calorie counter doesn’t lie. And, as fun as that meat and cheese tray was this past week, it is clear that I need to make some choices beyond breakfast to get to my end game.

Other notable changes – I unsubscribed to Apple News (goodbye smutty magazines that reinforce I’ll never be pretty enough) and the New York Times. I’ve moved my bedtime up and am limiting my television intake, which means no Bachelor but still the occasional Bravo Reality TV show.

That’s the latest on this journey of grace. I’m still defining what success looks like because it can’t be a number on the scale of this ideal version or a better me because what does that even mean? But I do know it involves making incremental changes and letting go of what’s getting in my way of making space for what I could become.

Keeping the momentum of RISE alive is tough because honestly creating new habits is hard AF. But, the stubborn, gritty, goal setting no nonsense gal appears to be popping up now and again. She’s testing the waters on this new challenge. And, I’m doing my best to give her some grace. We’ll see where this journey takes me in the coming months.