(not necessarily in that order)
Lately I’ve been trying to get out and walk more, without much success.
But this evening I finally did it and was treated to these scenes of astral beauty featuring the new moon.
It definitely felt like my reward for following through on my commitment to myself.
“Often we continue to suffer without making an effort to change; that is why we don’t find lasting peace and contentment. If we would persevere we would certainly be able to conquer all difficulties. We must make the effort, that we may go from misery to happiness, from despondency to courage.” — Paramhansa Yogananda
Going into seclusion is — for me — about making the effort to change. Not everything and not all at once, but still…one has to try.
While in seclusion I’ll mostly be taking a break from technology, except that I don’t want to break my commitment to writing in my blog every day.
So, what I’ve decided to do is prepare three daily posts ahead of time, with a quote about seclusion and being quiet. That way I can simply publish each draft from my phone. It’s a compromise.
This is one of those days where I remind myself that there’s no “requirement” and no “standard” for what I write.
My commitment was and is to simply write something every day.
And when it’s been a super full Sunday and I’ve worked all afternoon, it’s perfectly fine to cut myself some slack and let this be what I write.
This is one of those times when I remind myself that my blogging commitment is simply to write something every day.
It doesn’t have to be profound or entertaining or funny or inspiring. It just has to be — to exist — for me to have met my goal.
Done!
Started making some small changes, then doing my best to stick with them. Bit by bit, new habits are forming and starting to stick. That makes me feel better and increases my commitment and determination.
I’m almost afraid to post this in case I jinx myself! 😂
A friend quite rightly pointed out that it would probably be a good idea for me to let go of the daily blog post during this little staycation.
The thing is, writing a blog post every single day for over a year is the commitment with which I’ve been the most consistent in a long time. So, I really don’t want to mess that up.
On the other hand, this is my week to take things easy; to relax; and most of all — to try and catch up on sleep!
The answer? Compromise! For the rest of the week I’ll simply post a quote or a beautiful photo or a couple of sentences about a particulary fun activity…and call it good!
My blog writing time has slowly been shifting to later and later once again. So I just reviewed my post from October 20, in which I committed to either getting it written by 9:30 pm or else only writing enough to acknowledge that I don’t have time to write due to it being time to get ready for bed.
And as it’s almost 10:00 pm all I get to add is…good night!
Pondering (yet again) the seemingly eternal question of how to get myself to go to bed earlier. The fact is that I recently made a commitment to be in bed, with lights out, by midnight. The commitment is to myself, but the decision was made together with a health professional as part of figuring out a healing protocol for me to follow.
The truth of the matter is that for decades now I’ve been sabotaging my health by not allowing my body the downtime it needs to rest, repair, and rejuvenate.
The evidence is clear: consistent lack of sleep screws up your hormones, results in weight gain, and contributes to a whole slew of other health issues. Of course, it doesn’t help that the resultant tiredness and lack of vitality also undermines your willpower, making it harder to stick to your good intentions to eat better and exercise and so on.
Then I got to thinking about another commitment I made not so long ago — the commitment to write a daily blog — and the fact that, in five months, I haven’t missed a day. That’s great and I feel good about it. But unfortunately, these two commitments have been conflicting with one another. Because if I don’t get the blog written early enough in the day and end up on the computer late in the evening, it’s almost guaranteed that I’ll get to bed really late as well.
So here’s the new deal. If I don’t have the blog written by 9:30 at night, all I get to write is an acknowledgement of the fact that I don’t have time to write because I have to get ready for bed! That way I’ll be honoring both my commitment to write the daily blog and my commitment to giving my body a chance to heal.
Of course, there’s a part of me that objects to this plan on the basis that I won’t be writing something “interesting” or “insightful” or “inspiring”. But my daily blog commitment isn’t to always be “interesting”, “insightful”, or “inspiring”! It’s simply to write something every day. Now to see if this works!