I saw this tweet from a Youtuber yesterday, and I can either go two ways with it:
- Well there’s no way he can completely change his life all in one fell swoop and will soon give up on these activities.
- Oh hell yeah that’s awesome for this guy, he deserves to get on the self care train.
Why can’t we try and pile it all on at once and see what sticks?
Making one good habit is not going to change your entire life, but could it be as simple as domino effect?
Doing yoga makes you want to eat healthy, because it’s definitely not fun to be bloated while you are in downward dog. And after after a physically and mentally cleansing yoga class, the last thing I want to do is bombard my brain with fleeting tweets and ‘grams – I want churn out some real work instead of “busy work.” And if I’m focused I will not feeling mentally taxed as if I was trying to multitask all day, I can sit down at night and dig into a book or a movie with my full attention. I will feel accomplished and hopefully the cycle will repeat.
But it doesn’t always work like that.
It takes a true concerted effort to stay in a positive habit loop, especially when we haven’t re-routed our old habits.
There will always be things trying to throw you off your track – backyard BBQs, traveling, a happy hour with friends, bad weather (because who wants to do anything in bad weather?) etc etc.
Shift the mindset to accept that there will be things to blow you off course, it’s up to you to decide if you’ll falter the next day, and the day after that. Giving ourselves grace might be the only way to perpetuate real change in ourselves.
For me, Mondays can be an extra catch up day after a busy weekend and my habits aren’t in check. I know this, and I accept this. But Tuesdays I’m back to the green smoothie and grocery shopping. If I accepted my fate that I’d never get back on track… well, then I wouldn’t get back on track.
IT’S UP TO YOU.
Now, back to the tweet.
I think there’s a middle ground of trying to indulge in ALL THE THINGS to create a good self care routine. Slowly add things to your day, and see what sticks. There’s no set timeframe for a habit to be created, (I’ve head 66 days or anywhere between 18-254 days) but the underlying theme is that it takes time. Don’t give up just yet.