10 Days to a Healthier Life – Day 1

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Follow along as I provide day-by-day updates during my ten-day case study.  I’m changing one simple daily habit, and letting readers learn first hand the impact it’s having on my life.

Day 1 – 7:00 am

I’m tired.  It feels like dawn has barely broken.  What have I gotten myself into?  These are natural first reactions. I’m sitting in my freezing cold home office, while the rest of the family is warm and cozy in bed.  I know it’s not even that early, but here I am awake, when I could still be sleeping!  It’s technically a weekday, but we’re all still on vacation, so I’m following my weekend schedule.  Normally we get up around 8:00 am, so I’ve started my day at 7:00 am.

Last night I definitely had some nervous excitement that made it tough to fall asleep.  I was eager, I daresay excited, to embark on this ten day journey.  For me, 2015 is a year focused on creating a better self.  Life is all about continuous improvement, so why not work on my personal development?  I believe there are always things we can do to improve our physical, intellectual and emotional selves.  As painful as getting up early is, it’s the one hour in the day that I plan to focus on really taking care of myself.

Today’s Routine

I started this morning with a ten-minute meditation session. For those of you who have never tried meditation before, check out Headspace. I use their free iPhone app.  It’s a great ten-minute meditation session for beginners. Meditation helps to clear my head and allows me to focus on the day at hand.  I’m still a newbie with meditation, but the more I do it the more I appreciate the benefits.

Feeling focused, I then moved on to some positive affirmations.  I wrote and expressed some positive “mojo” about Cool Healthy Life and about myself as a person.  Next, I spent about 15 minutes writing up my morning feelings, which is what you’re reading here.

I have about fifteen minutes left and I’m going to do a quick yoga practice.  I’ll just flip on the TV and find an on-demand episode and practice until the girls wake up. I’ll check back this evening to wrap up the day.

Day 1 – 6:00 pm

Is it time for bed yet?  The girls haven’t even eaten dinner and I’m ready for bed.  I do feel like I accomplished a lot today, but that hour of missed sleep is catching up with me.  One thing I need to change for tomorrow is to prep better before I go to bed.  I lost too much time this morning getting the coffee together, finding a yoga episode and getting dressed.  Since this is an hour focused on personal development, I need to ensure I’m not wasting time measuring out the coffee-to-water ratio in the java maker when I could be meditating or exercising.

While I do feel drained, overall I would say Day 1 was a success.  I don’t feel all that different, but I’m proud that I’ve introduced a new habit into my life, and I accomplished more than I normally would in a day.  I have a few things that I’ll tweak for tomorrow, but I’m excited for where things are going!

I’ll see you tomorrow!

Brent

10 Days to a Healthier Life – Day 2

 

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