Introduction:
I have tried changing my lifestyle multiple times throughout the past year. During the first Corona-lockdown in March 2020, I was motivated to workout every day. I envisioned myself going back to school two months later, looking unrecognizable, and leaner than ever. Well, that excitement lasted for about four days, and before I realized I was going back to my old habits, spending even more time scrolling through Instagram than before and rarely getting my step-count over 4000.
Failure:
I’ve tried creating and sustaining new, healthier habits over and over again. But I never managed to stick through with it for more than a week. I’ve had so many attempts, but that’s all they were, only attempts.
The thing is that starting a new habit, I would usually obsess over it. I gave so much energy into preparation and building a huge knowledge-foundation but failed in the execution if I even got as far as to get up and start executing.
Obsession itself is a very bad thing when trying to build a new habit, as it gets you into the character of a perfectionist, who only starts performing a task when they have the impression that it is (as its title indicates) perfect. Which is usually never.
When researching certain habits I was trying to attain, I would always come across one problem. For example, I would want to start working out to increase my energy throughout the day but then my motivation would quickly change from that to feeling the need to look a certain way.
It seems to me, that this is a common phenomenon, caused by social media and advertisement, many people have to face. But as soon as you get trapped it’s just a toxic down spiral from there and the habit grows unsustainable.
Reflection:
But let’s focus on the positive now. You can never learn as good from anything as from your own past mistakes. If you choose to reflect on them.
Accept that failure is part of the process, forgive yourself for your mistake, reflect on it, and get back up. That’s going to make you the strongest person you’ve ever been.
Even though I experienced so much failure (and I am going to experience a lot more in the future) I always gave it another shot, but it took me until recently to acknowledge the root of my failed attempts.
I invested a lot of time into reflecting and analyzing past behavior and in the process acquired a new habit: journaling. It brought me so much clarity and I could finally understand the reason for my past failures.
What I came to realize was that I tried creating unenjoyable, difficult habits that required more willpower than I could offer, so as soon as I had one lazy day I would go back to my default, lazy me didn’t have the mental strength to keep on going.
My first problem was that in terms of habit and lifestyle I was quite a perfectionist. I wanted to perform amazing and saw it rather as a challenge than as a real, long-term lifestyle change. I was trying to be an over-achiever and created difficult, unenjoyable habits in the process.
I didn’t give myself the time I needed to grow and to get comfortable and routined with my lifestyle-changes and now that I understand that, I can do better.
Goals:
I have often put my mental health behind in the attempt to overachieve. So now I feel like I am at a point in my life, where I want to start listening to my body and mind and start prioritizing self-love and my physical- as well as my mental health.
I do not have a clear, defined goal, like running a marathon, losing 10 pounds, or anything of that sort. My “goal” is to have a lifestyle-change and create habits that support me in my productivity, future accomplishments, and health.
I have spent way too much time scrolling on social media, so that is a big thing I am working towards minimizing.
In terms of prioritizing my health, there are a couple of habits I want to build. I want to sleep 8 hours a night and raise the quality of that sleep, I want to start exercising regularly (but this time focusing on my health, not my looks), and I want to start eating healthier again. Although this time I am taking a lot more time to get there.
I know that working towards those goals is going to take me several months, if not years. And I am not gonna do it all at once.
Finding joy in the process:
The most important thing is to fall in love with the process, if I am only going to start feeling joy when I reach my goal, I am not going to be able to pull through more than a week.
I am going to be taking baby-steps from now on. Starting with one habit until I fall in love with it and can’t imagine my life without it, only then am I going to start focusing on the next one.
For now, I am going to be working on my morning and night routine, as those to me seem like the most powerful ones.
My night routine helps me wind down and I take a lot of time to journal, that way I am going to wake up the next morning well-rested and will be improving each day as I reflected on my mistakes.
With my morning routine, I can set the right intentions for the day, organize it, and get energized. That helps tremendously throughout the day, as I feel ready, full of energy, and motivated (as I’ve already achieved something).
Well, this is it. I know that I can do this, and you can, too!
So if you want to follow my journey, or start your own, be free to interact in my comments, subscribe to my newsletter, or write me an email.