I'm back! With my first proper end-of-month update. It is the perfect time to review because not only is it a new month, I also finished my exams and 2nd year of my degree on the 30th, so it's time to check my direction and decide what I want to continue doing.
First of all, the Personal Olympics.
I got: 7 out of 9 habits to 21 days, which is a *
SILVER* medal!!!
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I actually feel a huge rush of achievement about this.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Wooooooo!
So, I'll just run through each habit in turn.
Zen Mistress (meditate min. 5 mins per day): Longest run =
22 days, still going from the 10th May.
I enjoy taking this time out for myself. To improve it I need to decrease my reliance on YouTube 'guided meditation' videos. Some are very good, but I know how to meditate now and need to start building my own independent practice. Allowing someone to talk me through it means I don't have to think about it or truly commit myself to it, I can just let my brain bumble along. So, my modification for June is: no guided meditations (except on S-days).
B.B. (just short round of exercises twice a day - but slightly private, so I'm not being too specific): Longest run =
22 days, still going from the 10th May.
This also doesn't take long and making time for it gives me a feeling of control just through establishing a routine. I've built up to doing 10 rounds each of long and short, which is the recommended level; now to improve it I would just like to remember to concentrate more on the quality of each round, and to also add in some random spot-checks throughout the day.
Active Hippy (Alternately running and yoga every day, except for Sundays): Longest run =
22 days, still going from the 10th May.
Rather proud about this one. Actually had a pretty established running habit since January, but being really strict about it for 21 days has moved it up a level to the point where it's just not difficult to get myself changed, shoes on, and out to jog the streets. The Personal Olympics were a huge motivational factor, keeping me going even during coursework and exams, and I even went for a run at 10pm *after* my last exam, when I would have been entitled to curl up and read a book. The biggest change in attitude is definitely that I have discovered I like running, especially to upbeat music (the secret ingredient to all exercise) - physical exertion can feel good, as well as exhausting! Also definitely fitter, and have lost a little weight.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
To improve on being an active hippy, for the yoga it's the same as the meditation - to wean myself off guided videos. I'm still going to a weekly class, and I have a little reference book, and plenty of ideas of what to put into my own personal yoga practice. It's time to start thinking for myself and deciding on my own postures. This will make it a lot more psychologically difficult to begin with, but soon I hope to have a new habit formed and it to become easy again. So, the mod: to only watch guided videos on S-days. My normal yoga practice should last about 10 minutes by the end of the month.
Cuddlebunny (to hug min. 3 different people per day): Longest run =
11 days, twice (once in April and once in May).
Here we see the downside of May's particular Personal Olympics goal, which is that once I knew I'd blown it for this month, it was hard not to succumb to the 'what-the-hell' effect, and was certainly dispiriting. The problem with this habit is that it relies on interacting with a sufficient number of people, which is a lot trickier when I'm staying at home, for instance. Also, it feels a tad manipulative to be hugging people partly only to get a green on the habitcal. On the other hand, I have really liked making hugs a feature of every day, and it has definitely got me to offer more hugs to people I wouldn't normally have done. However, from now on I think I will modify this habit to be only 1 person per day. (Does anyone know how I can change this on the habitcal without starting an entirely new line?)
Pumpkin Curfew (get to bed by midnight) and
Sleeping Beauty (get 8 hours' sleep a night): Both longest run =
24 days (!), still going from the 8th/9th of May.
It has been a good month for sleep. Well, after a particularly stunning failure back at the start of the month involving handing coursework in. But that experience proved to me that I never, ever want to do another all-nighter - although it's a common part of the university culture here, to me it just doesn't make sense. I don't enjoy being tired, it makes everything else in life harder to enjoy. So I refuse to be. This makes common-sense to me now, whereas before I made it a firm resolution I was all too often tempted to see sleep as expendable.
I did take one exemption each for this month, and that was on the night of my birthday. But IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY, which is all the excuse I need to proclaim it an S-day. I got 6 hours' sleep still, from 1am to 7am (but boy, I could feel the difference!).
To improve this... I think just maintenance really. I liked that for a while during exams I was consistently getting to bed at 11pm, my official bed-time. This I've found instantly harder to do after exams are over, yesterday I dived into bed with 30 seconds to spare. So, I'd like to keep my fence firm and not push the boundaries, to maintain this most precious part of my routine.
Photographic memory (take min. 1 photo per day): Longest run =
26 days!! From when I started in April, one failure on 12th May (luckily didn't break my run before 21).
This one is really a lot of fun. I use the camera on my phone, which is just about good enough for most situations. It's just really nice, while I'm still not writing a diary, to know I'm maintaining some form of record, and it's very very quick to do.
One way I'd like to develop this habit is to set a goal over the summer to do something with my photos (mainly just get them up on Facebook). I'd also like to keep them safely backed-up somewhere.
Sally Skywalker (go for a min. 5 minute walk per day): Longest run =
19 days ![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
- broken on 5th May; then on 17th, at which point I couldn't do 21 and lost motivation, failing again on 21st and 28th - 30th (although this was during exams).
I do want to walk a little bit every day; however, this hasn't yet become a proper habit. I can tell because it's not yet easy to make time for it, and I often counted walks across a couple of streets to a library as my daily walk. Think I should check out urban ranger for some advice and modifications...
Tickling the Ivories (sit down at a piano once per day): Longest run =
21 days, just - failed once on 22nd and again on 25th (showing again that I didn't much care as long as the chain had been made for the month).
This one is good. Need to keep getting to a real piano every so often, instead of just an electric one. But quite easy to fulfil in general and again it's enjoyable to make the time for myself. Hoping to be doing more practice anyway in the near future because I've got a lesson coming up and a new piece I want to learn.
Overall, there is one problem still, which is that I still don't automatically remember all my resolutions or when to do them, suggesting conscious effort is still involved. To improve this, I think I just need to work on a way of memorising them all (the funny names already help with this).
So, there we go - I'll finish here. Next I need to think about my Personal Olympics for this month, and whether to add a new resolution to the load (possibly one about singing in the mornings?).
AND I need to post in the 21-day forum!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)