So let's see how January went!
Family Time
Dan and I have been doing so well on our weekly walks.
Also, family time is more than just having a set activity to do every day. It's about being present. It's about the little moments like joking around with each other while we're home and sneaking hugs and kisses (Harley gets VERY jealous). It's about date nights (in addition to our weekly hikes). Between work and family, I had to spend some time in LA away from Dan and we really just missed each-others presence. I think something about making time for each other outside of the house has really added to that.
There's also a funny thing about habits - the others involved started to get really used to them too. Week 4 I was on the last day of a cold and while I felt better, I wasn't super excited about going for a hike. However, Dan and Harley REALLY wanted to. I probably would have skipped the week but they encouraged me to get out so we picked a really easy hike (more of a walk) and got to enjoy the sunshine which ended up feeling really nice.
Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule
This has been going so well. As I said in my original post, one week this month I did 10 workouts in a week. Don't worry - I'm well aware that it's not sustainable. The next week it was 6 workouts. The week after was a little less due to travel, rain, and a cold limiting my workout options. The point is that I still made time for it when I could. I obviously couldn't meet my friends at the gym if I was in another city but I got outside for a walk as soon as the rain cleared. I tried to work my travel schedule around not missing all of my gym classes as well. Being sick just really threw a wrench in things but once I got better I was SO antsy to workout again because my standard now is exercise instead of apathy. Habits are about making a new normal for yourself and laying in bed for a few days was not part of my normal.
It was kind of nice to start the year with this lesson - life happens. You can't always follow your strict schedule, especially if it requires you to be in a certain place or the cooperation of the forces. With that said... progress was still made.
I love MapMyRun Challenges. Some months I'm awesome at them, some months I'm terrible. Last year there was a challenge to run 1,000 kilometers in 2016. It went so well they re-did it for 2017 with 1,017 kilometers. The picture on the left is how I did last year. I didn't get to 1,000 last year. Not even close (but to be fair, one of my half marathons didn't track properly so it's off by like 22km). I don't think I'll get to 1,017 this year (its like 11 miles/ 19km a week which is tough with climbing and body pump) either... but I want to do a whole lot better. So far this month (on the right), I've crushed it by already going about 1/4 of the distance I did last year. Sometimes goals or habits aren't about reaching a certain number but just doing a little bit better than you did last time. If I keep up this pace, I should get to around 700 km this year. That's like 450 miles on my feet and a huge step up from last year's number.
Meal Planning
This one is so tough. We had a good week but then I had to go out of town just to come home for a week, spend most of it sick, and leave again. That makes it so hard to buy groceries and plan meals. I worked with that the best I could. The first week that we did our meal planning had another big hiccup - I planned out a week of meals, forgetting that 1) some of the meals had many servings and could last a couple of days 2) it was Restaurant Week and we had some meals planned around that. On the plus side, Dan was left with a lot of leftovers while I was out of town so it wasn't a huge waste.
I also got to use my meal planning skills a bit with my parents. For those who don't know, my mom hasn't been feeling great and therefore hasn't been cooking as much... which really affects how much my dad eats. I decided that while I was here I'd cook him a nice dinner each night. I think before I come back, I might reach into my recipe database to find something I can make in bulk for him and freeze so he has some easy meals on hand.
We did try a couple of new recipes though and that was AWESOME. Not going to lie, Dan would probably be pretty happy with me just making brocolli, quinoa, and some meat every day but I love variety and finding some new, simple recipes is amazing - like trying out this fish poached in tomato sauce that I saw on Instagram a couple of times. It takes about 10-15 minutes and was amazing. It also uses cod which is a cheaper, more sustainable fish than salmon so that was a double win.
Take an Annual Trip with my Husband
This is the only habit on here that really is an annual thing. However, a big trip isn't just something you wake up and go on and there's been progress here. One of my goals for this month was to book our flights. I had a goal price for our tickets and ended up finding a great flight that fit in that budget. That gives us a little more money for excursions while we are in Europe which is awesome!
My goal for next month is to start booking some of those excursions and figuring our what we're going to do in the 8-10 hours we have in each city so we can maximize our time!
Read a Book a Week
I destroyed this goal this month. 4-5 books would have put me on pace for this goal. I read 7.I'd like to thank the library for processing my holds faster than my book-a-week pace, pushing me to finish books faster. Honorable Mention goes out to book club for forcing me to read one non-library book so I could host a meetup.
The end of January also marked a new beginning - the beginning of Spring classes! Last spring I took a few online classes at the community college. I had to take a break last Summer and Fall for the wedding but I'm excited to pick up another half course this Spring. I'll have to take off the second half of Spring for our trip but Summer and Fall should also be free for me to continue my education. The goal would be to take a class each semester or half semester in perpetuity to always continue building my skills and knowledge base. You might wonder how this fits here but I count the text book as a book I'm reading this year so there.
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| Also a big thank you to kitty for keeping firmly grounded in my reading hammock. |
Me Time
This one took a turn for the worse - which also happens. I've obviously been spending a little more time taking care of other people this month and that's ok. Me time isn't supposed to be selfish time. Sometimes we're needed other places and there's it's own satisfaction in knowing you're helping someone else.
I also started an online class the last week of the month. It's only a 8 week class but I'm sure it will cut into my "me time" for the next two months as well, but cutting into "me" fun time in order to make "me" a better person seems like a pretty fair trade off.
Me time was also about me realizing while it sucked and I felt like a jerk, I had to duck out on plans while I was sick so I wasn't stressing my body more. It also meant not scheduling every minute of my life out which left Dan and I with a totally free weekend at the end of the month. It was great to really let myself push out the last of the cold, read another book, and take care of a lot of little house projects that had been put off due to the rain. While I would have loved to add more video game playing to this list, it felt good just to be a little productive too.
I think I'm going to start creating monthly challenges for myself as well. At first I was thinking following a friend into a Frugal February but I already had some expenses planned for this month that would make it feel like a weak effort so we'll push that one back a bit. Instead I'd like to go with a "Fabulous February" - and make a better attempt to dress nicer and do my makeup and hair (especially with my new short look that requires a bit of styling). I'd love to build up the habit of looking a bit nicer each day.
So that's January. As a whole - If this is how the rest of the year goes, I'm going to have a good one. The nice thing about habits is that they don't happen all at once. They're a thing you grow on and get a little better at every day or week or month. January laid a great groundwork for good habits and I'm excited to see where February takes us.
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