Habits are slippery little suckers*
*(not quite direct) quote from Pretty Woman...
Two out of my three last blog posts have been related to the pain of grief that I have been experiencing since the beginning of May. And, as with all things, this changes over time.
One thing that I have noticed though is how it has knocked me off course, when it comes to my wellbeing habits. It had been really important to me to ensure that I instilled habits around eating, movement (I prefer this to the term exercise), hydration, sleep etc., and at the beginning of the year I started to plan and track this in my journal, as it really helped me to ensure that I kept on top of what was important to me. As the months went by, and the habits become entrenched, I found that I no longer needed to track some of the habits (although the planning was still useful).
Then May happened, and I stopped. For good reasons, as the important thing for me at that time was to acknowledge my grief. Yes possibly movement and eating well could have helped; however they weren't a priority for me at that time. My effort was focused on how I was feeling to move through that at a pace that worked for me.
We are now nearly in July, and I have realised that I have completely fallen out of my habits. They are important to me again, so I will be started them up again. And tracking and planning for as long as that helps.
What I've found helpful here is the following:
Habits are really easy to fall out of, and that's ok
Noticing without judgement is important here (as ever). Yes, I have fallen out of habits, and at no point will it be beneficial for me to berate myself for it
Now I've noticed, it's simply a matter of choice
Is it important for me to start them up again? If so, how am I going to do that?
And if not, that is ok too. We are ever-evolving, and what worked once for us isn't always going to work forever
There will always be life events, or even just "stuff", that knocks us off course. It's important to acknowledge that and just continue to notice and make the right choices for us (which aren't always the same choices as for anyone else)
Thank you for listening.
*if you enjoy the themes of these musings and would like to learn more, or join in similar conversations, please head over to The Listening House.
