Old Habits Are Hard To Break by Rambling Raven
By Raven • Jun 2nd, 2009 • Category: Rambling Raven •
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Old Habits Are Hard To Break by Rambling Raven
I always start off with good intentions. However, I can never seem to rid myself of some old habits that I desperately need to break. Summer break is officially nine days away for me, and like always I have such wonderful plans for myself. Over a two month period, I made a promise that I will regain a sense of self. I will: eat well, exercise regularly, read every book that has been waiting for me for weeks. I promise myself that I will rise early and take in all the beauty that the summer has to offer. Yep, I have wonderful plans for myself over the next several weeks. However, nothing ever pans out the way I plan them.
I start off great, for about one week. After that fist week my enthusiasm begins to wane and before I know it, I am no longer juicing and eating good wholesome food. My exercise regime goes from three times a week to twice a week and soon after that, it becomes whenever I feel like it. And that promise of waking up early to get a jumpstart on the day becomes the greatest joke of all. After a few weeks my early mornings turn into late morning risings and some days I don’t see the sun before noon.
The horrible part of it all is that before I can regain my mojo, I look up and the summer is nearly over. I then have to worry myself with things pertaining to work and the start of a new school year. In turn I begin to kick myself and feel defeated. I am then left with another ten months of dreaming and wishing for another summer so that I can immerse my time and energy into just me. What a vicious stupid cycle.
So now, with summer break coming fast, I am a little anxiety filled. Although I am over the moon that summer break is finally here, I am a little apprehensive about it. I do want this summer to jumpstart my “make myself over” phase. I am just too afraid that I will resort back to my old habits. And in the end I would have wasted nothing but time.
I know I need some sort of motivation. People have said that it is best to buddy up with someone when you try to get into shape or on the right eating path. That may be true but I think of my little “makeover” as a personal journey. I am not a social butterfly when it comes to such things. So I must find the motivation from within somehow. I have to come up with something that will cause me to wake every summer morning ready and willing to give it all I can give. After all I am the only person who can change me for the better.
Perhaps I can blog about my weekly summer activities. A sort of summer diary, at the least I would have something to write about weekly. I am up for any suggestions here. What keeps you motivated to break out of those old habits and stay on track with your plans?
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Raven is an educator with a B.A. in Psychology and a M.A. in Education. She has been an avid reader since childhood. Her favorite genres are mystery, suspense, and horror, although she will give any genre a try. She is a life long resident of Chicago. Her love of books opened her mind to people, places and events far beyond her Chicago home. Reading helped to shape her world and her opinion of the events that took place within it. No matter what demands her career requires of her, she has always found time to read and write in a journal. Along with reading and journaling, she loves to watch the sunset, and discuss hot topics with family and friends. She loves baseball, horror movies, mysteries, listening to music from every corner of the world and expressing her view of the latest books with the women of APOOO.
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I don’t have any suggestions. Like you, I make big plans and have a clear vision of what I intend and want to do, but after a few weeks say forget it. Or something happens where I miss a day and it’s all down hill from there. I’m trying to be accountable to someone other than myself to see if maybe that will work better for me. It’s easy to let myself down, but hard for me to let others down.if you get some good advice please share.
Jennifer C. I will pass on any good advice I receive. I think the issue is that we are creatures of habit. And we usually don’t come out of our comfort zones until something extraordinary happens. My thing is that I don’t want a health crisis to get me motivated to do the right thing. I do want to be pro-active. I just don’t know how to break this bad habit of not staying motivated.
I hope you enjoy your summer break.
At times I have to trick myself to get into the habit of gooding things I know I need to do.
So I work on the reward system. A couple of thinkgs I have done:
- eat 7 servings of fruit & vegatables I can have one piece of chocolate at night – 8 servings get 2 pieces and 9 servings = 3 pieces.
- if i exercise during the week – I do not have to on the weekend, if I don’t then I have to exercise before I do anything else
- and I have done other treats
Good luck
Thanks Beverly. I may give your reward system a try. I’ll tell you how it works out for me. Thanks!
Hey Raven…it’s so hard to fall off the wagon…but for me it’s now a health issue…so I have no choice but to make some changes. So from June-August…I’m going to focus on eating better (limiting my portions…eating sweets only once a week…it will be a treat for a job well done during the rest of the week) and exercising twice a day (I’m going for 60-90 minutes/6 days a week)…since there’s really not anything on TV I want to watch and not many books I want to read I’m going to spend this summer focusing on me…I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. Oh yeah and the biggest motivation for me right now is that I don’t want to go on any medications (too dayum expensive), die the way my mom did (age 66 due to complications of diabetes) and to set a better example for my teenage daughter. Hopefully by watching me lose weight and get in shape she will be encouraged to do so. Actually one of my biggest motivators is to be smaller than her by 30 pounds so that she can see what her mom looks like at xx weight and also might be a little jealous that her 50 year old mom is smaller than her! (I know that was a motivator for me when my mom was living…my mom had never been smaller than me…but one year she lost over 100 pounds and was significantly smaller than me…I couldn’t believe it..nor was I having it…lol.)
Hey Raven,
I hear you. Beverly and Yas’s reward system sounds like a good plan. I need support though, so a friend at work and I are going to get together for diet and exercise. I want to go back to relaxation techniques this summer also.
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Thanks for your advice ladies. Yasmin, I am getting to that point in my life where health matters are a concern. I got away with a lot of unhealthy eating and inadequate exercise earlier in life but as I settle into my mid-thirties, I must take my health much more seriously. And the more I read the more I understand that optimum nutrition is the key to great health and can even help to reverse many ailments. Like you, I have a family history of diabetes and high blood pressure. I, by the grace of God, have managed to avoid these ailments but if I don’t make mega changes there is a great possiblility that I too will end up on medication. And that is the last thing I want to do. Medication can be as destructive to the body as some of the diseases they claim to help.
I have the same problem Raven. I need to self-motivate myself. I don’t eat junk food or sweets – rice and pasta is my downfall
You have inspired me to make more of an effort to exercise. Don’t worry you can do it!!!