Latest game played: Oxygen Not Included on Steam
I keep hearing that the month of January felt like several, that it should be October by now. I guess a lot has gone on in the world in just thirty-ish days or people just really want the that polar vortex to hurry up and move on. When I look back on my day to day in January, there has been some significant happenings, some deep reflections on the state of things that directly affect my life, and improvements that I wished I worked on more.
My goals for the New Year were to...
- Have a consistent workout schedule: This goal started out strong with me switching to workouts in the morning, roughly running to the gym at 6AM. I went everyday during the week for two weeks and then my period along with an annoying cold halted my fledgling consistency. I also learned that I wasn't drinking enough water to compensate the amount of working out I was doing and that led to some discomfort as well.
I really enjoyed working out in the mornings. It was less busy and really jump started my day. Also getting up early freed up my after work time and that was really refreshing. I could spend time playing games or crocheting without fighting to get myself to the gym first. Or feeling bad after when I don't.
With what I learned in the first month of pushing myself to go to the gym every morning for at least 30 minutes I'm going to modify the frequency while still pushing to improve every time.
- Record a food journal: This one had the best of intentions. I created a Google Sheet with a format I thought I'd prefer. I've tried other food tracking apps and always felt like the effort to record my food for the day was more of a nuisance than a benefit. Thankfully I put little notes of what we ate during the week in my physical planner so I can back track a bit to fill it out.
I think we eat well enough but I'm curious to see if there are any patterns of which I need to be aware. My biggest hurdle has always been portion size and number of portions. I'm always too eager to go back for seconds or take those extra helpings of mashed potatoes or rice. It's hard because carbs are the tastiest things but I've trained myself to eat less before and I can do it again!
- Equally dividing up my hobby time: This one was a little more loose. It was a effort to wrangle all of my hobbies and successfully keep up with them by recording in my daily planner what hobby I focused on each day. It helped me visualize what I was spending more of my time on and what I may have neglected. I never held myself to a strict schedule, letting whole weeks be for video games or crocheting but ultimately the goal was to focus on a different hobby each day so nothing got left behind. I think it has helped and I'll continue with it.
- Find time for friends: This one was a little more difficult but I tried to set the bar low haha It was a matter of hanging out with a different friend each week. An effort to consciously keep in touch instead of only realizing how much time had passed since seeing that person. Everyone has busy lives and different schedules to consider but even just the notion of proposing a hang out that might fall through is better than silence.
So here's to trying new things and having some of them stick! What uncomfortable steps out of my comfort zone should I take next?
