While Walking My Dogs

“I don’t feel like working on that project now.  I’ll do it later.”

“I’ll have plenty of time for that later.”

“I work better under pressure anyway.  I’ll do it later.”

I don’t know about you, but I seem to be in a constant battle with procrastination.  Even though all my posts prior to this have been about committing to completing projects and working daily on goals, I still wake up every day with this nagging notion that I don’t feel like getting started right away.  And it’s weird because once I get started, I’m all in.  It’s just the initial starting part.  I mean, I get stuff done, but not without an amount of stress and frustration.

I share this with you because it’s easy to write down a bunch of things you’re going to ‘do’ and talk about committing to change, but it’s much harder to accomplish.  Real life gets in the way of our dreams and aspirations and presents us with the cold hard fact of discipline.

Even this morning, I’ve been putting off this post, mostly because I wasn’t sure how to start, but mostly because it ‘felt’ like it was going to be a challenge.  My motivation was my commitment to this 31 day challenge and once I started it wasn’t bad at all.  I actually really enjoy writing every day so it’s a complete mystery to me why I would not want to just jump right in and get it done.

Part of the problem could be that our lives tend to be overscheduled with activity and what looks like procrastination is really our souls and bodies crying out for rest.  And we know that rest is as vital to health as exercise is, so why do we not rest?  Well, that question has many answers I’m sure and they’ll be different for every one.  For me, I’d say it’s because I like to keep busy, but I need to be better at giving myself permission to rest.  Maybe then I won’t procrastinate as much.

Do you battle with procrastination?

“Mom, this is how you rest.  And it helps if you have a really comfy pillow.”

As I have been committing to making lasting change in my life, I’m at the stage where the novelty has worn off and the real work begins.  This is always a dangerous place for me because this is when I tend to start making excuses and rationalizations and begin my slow descent to old habits.  “One cookie today is not going to make a difference.”  or “I walked the dogs today. That counts as exercise.” or “But the yarn is on sale.”  These excuses/reasons may silly to you, but they represent the signs of the beginning of my waning commitment.  Now I have to say that I haven’t uttered these yet, but I know myself and if I don’t put measures in place, they will show up.

The other area where I notice my commitment faltering is my propensity to watch more television, play games on facebook and spend hours (literally) “researching” on Pinterest.  Now, I love Pinterest and understand it’s value as an idea tool, but it’s also really addictive.  I say to myself, “I’m only going to look for 15 minutes” and that turns into 3 hours.

So now I’ve admitted to my propensity to throw away countless hours on fruitless activity.  Disclaimer:  This is only fruitless to me when compared to all the productive activities I should be doing.  There are times when I need to just vegetate and not think too deeply about anything.  That’s when I turn to Slingo or Pinterest or episodes of the Andy Griffith Show :-).

So why do I do this?  I’ve already mentioned the novelty wearing off, but I think there is another reason.  I could say boredom, but that’s really just the novelty wearing off.  The activity required to choose good habits is exhausting and it’s the increased expenditure of energy that starts to wear me down.  Eating well, exercising, taking care of my home and family requires much more thought, energy and preparation than grabbing fast food, sitting on the couch not doing housework or fixing dinner.  I think I choose to say that I’m bored, but what I really mean is I’m tired of having to work so hard.

So at the risk of spiralling into a full-blown pity party, how am I going to address this?

1. Be grateful that I recognize the speed bump.
2. Acknowledge that it is hard, but I’m making better choices.
3. If boredom is a factor (because you can only walk the same 30 minute loop so many times), then find another route.  Do something completely different.
4. Resolve to be unstuck.
5. Talk it out (dogs are great listeners :-)).  So are friends and family.
6. If the task/project seems overwhelming, break it down into bite-sized chunks.
7. Don’t view a slip (eating that cookie) as complete failure.  Get back on track.

Thanks for letting me talk this out.  Part of the journey is discovery.  It can be daunting, but it can also lead you to exciting adventures.  

“You’d be a good listener too if you had ears like mine.”

At a little over the halfway point, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the past two weeks and do some followup.

So let’s review:

Day 1:  Intro

Day 2:  No-Wheat.  So far so good.  I have lost 1 pound and my pants feel looser.  Overall I feel good and am not feeling deprived at all.  Hopefully this will last.

Day 3:  Household Chores.  I have been working on keeping high traffic areas of our house under control clutter-wise.  Also each day, I’ve worked for 30 minutes in a particular section of the house.  (Monday-Kitchen, Tuesday-Bathrooms, etc.)  I’m always amazed at how just day-to-day living creates so much mess.  I was overwhelmed at first wanting to work for hours in each room, but I knew if I did that I would lose interest really fast, so I make myself work hard for 30 minutes and then I stop.  You can get a lot done in 30 minutes!

Day 4: The Backyard.  We started on our bricks, but haven’t made anymore progress because we had to work in the front yard.  The wildflower seeds arrived, but I haven’t done anything to prepare the soil.

Day 5: Reducing Waste.  On the food-waste front, we’ve been doing fabulously!  Menuing every week definitely helps to reduce food waste and anything that is perishable that doesn’t get eaten, gets cut up or pureed and frozen.  To the systems I already have in place, I’ve added: Keeping reusable shopping bags in my trunk for our weekly grocery trip and using hand knit dish cloths for all my cleaning.  I was particularly proud of myself this past week because I needed a large piece of paper to design a sewing pattern and used the kraft paper stuffing from a package delivery. 🙂

Day 6:  Daily Exercise.  I have been walking every day for 30 minutes, and want to eventually begin jogging.  My husband wants us to do the Honolulu Marathon in 2013 so I want to start now with training.  In 2004, we walked that marathon in 8 hours, 23 minutes, but this time we would like to beat our time and run most or some of it.  Having a goal really helps with daily exercise and having a plan for each day is even better.

Day 7:  95% No Eating Out.  We’ve eaten out about 3-4 times and those were because we were invited.  We nice thing is that a lot of restaurants have gluten-free options so we didn’t feel deprived.

Day 8:  Meal Planning.  This has been the key to eating healthy, not going out to eat and staying on budget.  My biggest struggle still seems to be deciding what to cook, but once I have that down, I’m fine.  We’re compiling a list of our favorites, but also trying new recipes.

Day 9:  Using my Organizer.  This is working out wonderfully.  I make sure it’s always with me and it’s the only place I write down appointments/notes/menus/anything.  I’ve significantly reduced my miscellaneous piles of notes.

Day 10:  Decluttering.  This is an area that is going to take a loooonnnnngggg time.  I was trying to decide between working on several areas in short spurts or to just tackle one area at a time and get it done.  I tried both for a couple of days and have decided the ‘tackle one area’ plan works best for me.  So I picked a room, our master bath, and started decluttering.  Now I’m moving onto the area closest to that… our clothes closet.  This system has two added benefits:  1.  There’s a feeling of being finished with something and 2.  I am energized and inspired to work on the next area.  Glad I figured this out early on in the game :-).

Day 11: Walking my Dogs.  Feeling really good about this and so are they.  They even got a double walk yesterday.  Enough said.

Day 12:  Organizing my yarn.  I haven’t made it to the yarn yet, but my patterns are nicely organized.  This area is really about organizing my knitting/crochet hobby.

Day 13:  Unfinished Projects.  1.  Super hero capes – The sewing machine is out.  The pattern is made for the capes.  Just need to cut the fabric and sew away.  2.  Alisa’s sweater.  Back is finished.  Started on left side.  Feeling good.

Day 14:  Project Life. I assembled a basket of items I use regularly with Project Life:  tape runner, scissors, corner rounder, pens, journal cards and placed on our baker’s rack where I will see it every day.  I also moved the album next to it and added a section in my organizer to remind me to record stories every day.  I’m currently working on a system for my pictures, trying to choose the most economical and efficient method for printing.

Day 15:  Reading more.  I have wanted to read the Harry Potter books for quite a while now. (I know I’m the last person on the planet to do so)  As an Amazon Prime member they’re available for ‘checkout’ (like a library).  I downloaded the first one last month and am almost done with it.  Additionally a friend loaned me the book ‘Heaven is for Real’ and I am about 75% done.

Things I’ve learned after 15 days.

• Slow and steady wins the race
• Many of the areas (diet/exercise) have positive effects in other areas (energy for organizing/stress relief)
• Discipline is a daily, if not hourly, exercise
• I love the accountability that I feel by sharing on this blog
• There is no shame in sharing your struggles
• I do go on about my doggies 🙂
• I used to be so focused on ‘finishing’.  Now I’m really jazzed by ‘progress’
• I am so thankful for my life and everyone in it

Onto the next 15 days… 

“Go on about us all you want.  We love it.”