Ten months ago I began a journey of practicing mindfulness every day and we've reached day 307. Yesterday, I talked about the expression of self. Today is a new day.
With New Year's resolutions still fresh in our minds, this ass-kicking of a day came at a good time and reminded me of the importance of establishing routines. When it comes to maintaining anything, consistency is key. Having routines is important because they condition you to get into the habit of doing things a certain way. Once those habits become solidified we just naturally do things that way. When we end up doing things that go against the established norm we face adversity, be it feeling tired from waking up earlier, sore the next day from an intense workout, etc. That discomfort is there to tell us that we're not used to something and that we need time to adjust to it.
It's kind of like getting into really cold water. Some people have to slowly settle themselves in to avoid feeling too uncomfortable, others just jump right in (I can't resist. I'm too impatient not to) and take all of the suffering all at once. Regardless of how we decide to submerge ourselves, it still takes a bit before our bodies adjust to the chilly temperature and we calm down a bit.
The same applies to anything we're working toward. One of the most popular resolutions is losing weight. Every year it happens but after a few months the dream dies and what was once a "definitely this year" turns into a "hopefully this year will be better" when January comes back around. Change is hard and when it comes to exercise and diet it can especially be difficult to stay in the habit of doing things, but that makes it all the more important to ignore the negative voices and not let yourself make any excuses to half-ass things.
The moment we do that we essentially throw all of the progress we've made away and go back to square one - we end up back at the starting line. Getting past that initial hurdle and taking those first steps is both the hardest and most important part of habit forming. A way to help make it easier is by doing things right the first time, even if it means taking longer, using less weights, or the task being more difficult. But as we get used to things and they become routine they become easier and by building a solid foundation we set ourselves up for long-term growth in the future. Win-win.
Something to remember: humans are extremely adaptable and what was once difficult to do eventually becomes your warm-up. That's how progress works. Today might have been hard, but once I get back into the rhythm of things it'll be no problem.
Peace
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Will DurantToday was my first full day back teaching since winter break and even though it had only been a few weeks I had to get myself back into the flow of things and was a little out of it. Despite that I found myself getting back into speed in no time and I was able to teach my classes without much trouble. The one thing that really took its toll on me was how drained I became after a day of teaching mostly kids classes. Although I know that they're tiring, I kind of forgot exactly how exhausting it really can be. I had a good day, but goddamn I'm pretty beat.
With New Year's resolutions still fresh in our minds, this ass-kicking of a day came at a good time and reminded me of the importance of establishing routines. When it comes to maintaining anything, consistency is key. Having routines is important because they condition you to get into the habit of doing things a certain way. Once those habits become solidified we just naturally do things that way. When we end up doing things that go against the established norm we face adversity, be it feeling tired from waking up earlier, sore the next day from an intense workout, etc. That discomfort is there to tell us that we're not used to something and that we need time to adjust to it.
It's kind of like getting into really cold water. Some people have to slowly settle themselves in to avoid feeling too uncomfortable, others just jump right in (I can't resist. I'm too impatient not to) and take all of the suffering all at once. Regardless of how we decide to submerge ourselves, it still takes a bit before our bodies adjust to the chilly temperature and we calm down a bit.
The same applies to anything we're working toward. One of the most popular resolutions is losing weight. Every year it happens but after a few months the dream dies and what was once a "definitely this year" turns into a "hopefully this year will be better" when January comes back around. Change is hard and when it comes to exercise and diet it can especially be difficult to stay in the habit of doing things, but that makes it all the more important to ignore the negative voices and not let yourself make any excuses to half-ass things.
The moment we do that we essentially throw all of the progress we've made away and go back to square one - we end up back at the starting line. Getting past that initial hurdle and taking those first steps is both the hardest and most important part of habit forming. A way to help make it easier is by doing things right the first time, even if it means taking longer, using less weights, or the task being more difficult. But as we get used to things and they become routine they become easier and by building a solid foundation we set ourselves up for long-term growth in the future. Win-win.
Something to remember: humans are extremely adaptable and what was once difficult to do eventually becomes your warm-up. That's how progress works. Today might have been hard, but once I get back into the rhythm of things it'll be no problem.
Peace
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| We all start somewhere, but goals are something we work toward. |
What habits are you working toward forming?
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