HABITS

HABITS

It is said that doing anything consistently for two weeks can form a habit. Either good or bad, it’s the consistency that counts.

In most circumstances I find this to be true. I have consistently made my bed for the past month and now can’t leave it unmade. Score one for building a habit. I consistently clean the floor, bathrooms and do the laundry. Good habit. I get to work on time. Great habit.

But do you think I can make a habit of, oh say, exercising? Eating healthy? Buying everything I need at the grocery store in one trip? NOOOOOO. At no time in my life have I been able to do these things consistently for longer than a couple of months. What’s a magical mess to do?

I’ve joined a gym and gotten a trainer and this did hold me accountable til I couldn’t afford him anymore, lovely though he was. I’ve filled my pantry and fridge with healthy foods and then found myself eating chocolate chips out of the bag with a spoon. (Probably should have thrown those away, but the husband would have to pry them out of my cold, dead fingers to do that.) And Safeway is just way too close for me to be organized enough to plan a week full of meals.

So, I just take to heart the habits I can manage and endeavor to add the others on a day to day basis. But, after years and years of trying what are the chances?

P.S. You are probably asking yourself, why did the bed making habit come so late in life? I was a spoiled little magical mess and never had to do that chore. Then, when I grew up I found that making my side of the bed is like starting over every time. When I sleep it appears a hurricane overcomes me and I toss and turn and flip covers and reflip them. In the morning my bed resembles nothing like how it started out. Over the years, I just gave up on the chore. Every week when I washed the bed linens the bed would be beautifully made. Then came the nightly storms. But I love climbing in a freshly made bed, so hence the new habit. (You’re probably thinking I don’t sleep well, but amazingly enough, I wake refreshed, although confused as to what could have happened in the middle of the night. Guess I’m no Princess and the Pea.)