Yesterday was a very rainy Monday. It also was the day David and I decided to put a new habit into practice. We are currently on day two of this new routine so it’s a bit soon to call it a new habit I suppose, but here I am, talking about it on the internet anyway.
I’ve written a lot about how the past year was a very chaotic time for our family between home renovations, selling, moving temporarily, then moving into our new home right at the holidays. My personal mantra to myself during this past year was simply “I’m doing the best I can” sang to a boppy little tune on repeat inside my head on most days.
Now we’re here on the other side of the craziness, settling happily into our new space, gaining some normalcy, and ready to begin creating new routines. One thing we’d noticed is our bedtime, or should I say go-to-sleep time, creeping back a little further over time, and without any real purpose. Sometimes it was scrolling, or watching a show, or just dillydallying, but the result was it being harder and harder to hit that early wake up time we strive for. So, we decided to do a hard reset and just jump full into the new habit we wanted to establish- an early wake up and morning workout. So, here we are, giving it a go!
For a whopping two days in a row now, we’ve gotten up at 5:30 and headed to the gym. The commute is quite reasonable so that helps. Jokes aside, after working out in our crawlspace for four years, the upgrade to having a dedicated home gym still blows my mind every time I walk in the room.
The hope/plan is that we get up, get in our 30 minute workout, start the coffee, then I have the ability to get a little computer time in before walking the dog, showering, and starting the day with the kids. Right now it works because the kids are on the loose system for school. We’re finishing up math books and reviewing over the next two weeks and that will finish up our year. So this is what it looked like yesterday:
- workout
- blog
- shower
- quick Finley walk
- checking on the garden and collect the first “harvest” of kale!
- math (magnatiles have been a staple in our home for 10 years and are still being used to help illustrate volume concepts)
- how to win friends and influence people for teen girls book club with the girls – I read this aloud and we go over the concepts together, role playing and discussing situations we’ve been in. I leave out parts that I don’t like or aren’t applicable to our tween/teen situation.
- leftover spaghetti and cake for lunch with a little read aloud of The Hobbit
All that and it was only about 12:45. Around this time, kids showed up at the door to play and they all took off. I started laundry, picked up the living room, cleaned the coffee maker, and debated a couch nap. I felt like I had been awake for a full day at this point! Though I’m sure the rain didn’t help.
We usually do afternoon workouts, so knowing that was already checked off, I had a full rainy afternoon ahead of me without much of a plan. Now, there were things I could have done, like start painting the wallpaper prep in the powder room or wrapping K’s birthday presents, but my energy was low. Was the rain to blame or the early wake up? I’m not sure.
A friend stopped by to bring her daughter a sandwich and I did everything but chain her to the chair to make her stay and chat with me and I realized I might be craving some social interaction. There was a break in the rain and I joined two neighbor friends on a walk until the rain really returned in a fierce manner. The kids thought the rain was a playground and I spent the rest of the late afternoon watching them play, washing eggs I picked up from the coop, and prepping dinner.
Eventually the evening came and the kids, soaking wet and happy about it, dispersed to their homes. I used the kale from the garden to mix into our pasta with the old trick of straining water over the greens to wilt them. Then we ate our chicken picatta (I omitted the heavy cream since I didn’t have any) and salad.
The kids went to shower. David finished up some communication on the cabins. I cleaned the kitchen. Then we all watched a special on the Edinburgh Castle in preparation for our upcoming Scotland trip, but honestly, I could barely keep my eyes open. I felt like I had been up for 24 hours, so it wasn’t long until I was tucked into bed, heading off to dreamland by 9:15 or so.
Now it’s morning again and I’ve knocked out day 2 of the earlier wake up and workout and am feeling quite good about it. I’m hoping my body continues to adjust and my afternoon energy is a bit better today. We shall see! I’m curious…
How do you fit exercise into your day?
Are you currently working on establishing any certain habit?
Do you have a person that motivates you to make certain choices/pursue better habits?
I draw inspiration from a lot of places, but most recently it was a podcast with Dean Graziosi that kicked me into gear to make this change. And I’m lucky that David and I are on the same page with a lot of this, always wanting to level up if we can. I appreciate he’s always game; accountability helps!
