After a lazy weekend of afternoon napping, eating banana bread for breakfast, lunch, and, dinner, and watching far too many episodes of Better Off Ted, it felt good to wake up with a schedule in mind. Weird, I know, but like I said before, the regimen works for me (I promise that’ll be the last time I use that word in a very long time)...
Read MoreA Regimented Life
I can’t explain it, but I’ve always wanted it, a regimen, a routine that I can follow and live out daily.
This past year especially, I’ve longed to live a healthy lifestyle; one where I could get an apt amount of sleep each night, eat three nutritious meals (with the addition of lots of coffee and snacks), exercise regularly, shower at the start of the day (as opposed to 3 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning), actually make it all the way through a book, have some sort of creative outlet, and get out of the house to obtain a necessary dose of human interaction. Is that too much to ask – apparently it is.
If you have ever worked at a coffee shop you’ll know that, although the hours are flexible, they are far from normal. Being a part of this industry for the past three years (not to mention the two years prior of late night studying with only 3+ hours of sleep) has really messed with my normalcy.
There are ways to get back hours of sleep – napping and sleeping extra on days off – but still, there is really no hope of having a well-adjusted sleep routine to follow. As far as those 3 daily meals go, they really don’t. Breakfast usually happens around 6 am, lunch is most likely skipped, and dinner turns into hardcore snacking from afternoon and on into the night. And everyday-exercise is reserved for the highly-motivated humans that somehow toss out exhaustion and lack of nutrition in order to power through calorie burning.
I can go on-and-on making excuses for why I never reached my great desire of having an ideal regimen. The most true reason is that, despite the unusual schedule, I never chose to make it work. I put so much energy into trying to make it work that all I was left with was a basket full of disappointment. The task proved to be too difficult to conquer.
About once a month I’d wake up with a “go get ‘em” attitude. I’d go on a long run, make a meal from scratch, shower and get ready, maybe even sit down to read a book. I’d try so hard to make it happen that I would burn myself out. There was too much pressure on trying and not on being, so it didn’t feel possible. After a long day of trying, I’d give in to the disorder of daily life and let go of the dream.
A year later and I’m ready to do this regimen thing. Right now I work for myself (for you guys) and I get to make my own schedule for the first time in my life. Yes, I’m only 21 years young, but those short years are all I’ve known; to me they feel long. I’m blessed to have this time to make my dreams happen.
Today is day two of the Regimented Life and I’m feeling great. On my run this morning a simple phrase popped into my head: “Don’t try, BE”, evolving into a more direct statement “Stop trying and start being”.
These two words “try” and “be” hold an insane amount of power in certain contexts. Imagine replacing one for the other – how radically different a sentence would sound.
I will try to be happy today : I will be happy today
I want to try to read a whole book : I want to read a whole book
I can try to change my habits : I will change my habits
Alright, you can’t exactly put the words in place of one another, but you get the idea. When you take out the word try, you are then given a responsibility for your words and are now accountable for making something happen.
It’s scary to be under accountability, but it’s also incredibly exciting. To see something through is one of the greatest gifts of all. Don’t rob yourself the joy of reaching a goal, of fulfilling a dream. You can’t ever get there if you don’t decide, now, that one day you will.
My Good Earth Quote of the Day goes well with this thought:
The secret of change is to focus your energy not on fighting the old, but building the new.
-Socrates
And so I have stopped trying to fight against the struggles of having a regimen and have focused my energy on building my ideal regimen:
- wake up by 8 am
- coffee and reads with the Hubby
- run into the Irish Hills (or some kind of exercise)
- shower (because you smell)
- get ready for the day
- stay at home or out to a coffee shop
- write a blog post
- lunch (eating is vital)
- read (enjoyable learning)
- online writing tutorials (not-so-enjoyable learning)
- play around with photography
- work on the new site
- make a meal for dinner (one new recipe a week)
- clean up the kitchen (I hate waking up to dirty dishes)
- watch a TV show or play cards
- snuggles with the Hubs
- in bed before midnight
There is no trying in it; it just is.
I hope I can inspire you towards throwing out the word “try” and clothing yourself in the word “be”.
Keep checking in to keep me accountable; I won’t let you guys down!
Happy Being!