Saturday, June 15, 2013

June's Habit: Journal

The month is half over and you guys have no idea how i've been trying to shape myself this month.  I'm going to start out by saying that I haven't been doing a very good job so far.  Hopefully writing this will help.
As I looked through my list of future habits trying to pick just the right one for this month, I noticed that most of them are health oriented.  I think that's pretty normal.  When someone says, "bad habit" most people probably think of smoking, eating only red licorice for breakfast, or biting your toenails.  But I thought that while my physical health is important, I should also focus on my emotional, spiritual, and creative health as well.  So I decided that this month, I would journal for at least one page every day.

Why journal?  Here are a few reasons:

"Words are a form of action, capable of influencing change."- Ingrid Bengis

Journaling makes you a better writer.  I am terribly out of practice.


“I don't know what I think until I write it down.”― Joan Didion

A lot of famous and successful people kept journals.  Think Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain (look at some of his neat journal entries here), George Lucas, Benjamin Frankln, Larry David, Leonardo Da Vinci, Virgina Woolf, David Sedaris, C. S Lewis, Michael Jackson, Tony Robbins, and Oscar Wilde.  Hmmmm, not many women in the list....


University of Texas at Austin psychologist and researcher James Pennebaker contends that regular journaling strengthens immune cells, called T-lymphocytes. Other research indicates that journaling decreases the symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. 


There is no perfect time to write – there is only now.”- Barbara Kingsolver


It can help heal emotional experiences.  No really, it can.

“I have found that your Inner Wisdom whispers and your Inner Critic yells, so you have to get quiet in order to hear your inner wisdom. Journaling is one way to get quiet,” - Sandy Grason

"[Writing a journal] is the primary tool for creative recovery." -Julia Cameron

Ok.  So there are some reasons fer ya!  

I'm going to write in the mornings.  At least one page.  At the end of this month, I will reward myself with a pocket notebook (so that I can write random thoughts on the go), and I will create and bind my own daily organizer based on this design I found on Pinterest, 



AND I will break out and use my leather journal that I bought 10 years ago in Italy that has been collecting dust in my book shelf because it is 'too special' to use.  That is a lot of rewards, but as I said, I have been having a hard time doing this, it is
that important, and I really want to succeed in this!

Monday, June 10, 2013

May's End: Sloshy Stomach

So I may be a stupid American but I just realized a week ago that I've been drinking one GALLON of water every day.  I calculated how much water I should drink in liters but when I saw that that was 16 cups, the enormity of my undertaking really hit home.  I did pretty well drinking my one gallon.  I have found that I really fall off the wagon when my routine gets switched up.  Looking back at my water tracker, when my extended family was here visiting and when I went to visit the in-laws, my drinking habit really hit some low points.

So what changes did I notice?

1.  This won't come as a shock to anyone, but I had to pee more and it was lighter in color.  Unexpectedly, I didn't have to pee as much as I was expecting.  Breastfeeding and sweating (see April's habit) probably had something to do with that.
2.  My lips still get chapped.  Seriously lips?  One gallon a day is not enough for you, you desiccated divas?
3.  I do seem to be less irritable.  I haven't yelled at the dogs or snapped at the girls as often as I was before.  Which feels awesome!
4.  No noticeable changes in my skin.
5.  I didn't lose any weight this month even though I've been exercising.
6.  About 10 days in to my habit, I woke up with cough that started deep in my chest.  You know the kind where you expect to hack up a lung for about 3 weeks?  I was mad.  I had been drinking water!  That was supposed to keep me healthy!  Imagine my surprise when 3 days later my cough was gone.  Correlation or causation, I give credit to that daily gallon of water.

I'm going to keep up with this habit.  However, I think that a gallon a day is a bit overkill.  That last bottle of water is always difficult to glug down.  So I'm cutting it.  2.25 liters (12 cups) for me from now on.  Should be plenty.

April Habit Update

I've continued working out except for when I was recovering from my cough.  Increased on some of my measurements.  Stayed the same weight.  I'm trying not to dwell on that.  Figure that my muscles are growing and that is why my measurements have increased.  But still.  -groan-