Invitation to the Journey: 365 Days, 365 Changes

I am a control freak. Not overtly, mind you. Most people who know me might not see me as controlling (or they might surprise me and say, “uh, yeah, we do!”) At any rate, I know there are many things beyond my control, namely everything outside of myself. Given that my stress manifests in physical ailments, I have simply GOT to find a better way to deal with things.

If you’ve read my other blogs, you know of my new battle with food and product ingredients. In my search for solutions, I am faced repeatedly with things I cannot control, which brings me full circle to what I CAN control – me.

So here’s my plan. I will make one positive, healthy change each day for the next year. 365 days – 365 positive changes. Some may affect only me, some will affect the whole household. Mostly, this is an effort to instill healthier habits. Nothing like, “Oh today I read a book.” Each thing I change will be a habit that needs to be maintained. I’ll keep track of the progress here. Feel free to walk this journey with me.

I just shared this idea with Dom, and his question was, “You have 365 things you can change??” Here’s how I see it. When I was in Fourth Grade I read a book called Little Miss Know It All. (Yes, I still remember the books I read in elementary school. Let it go.) Little Miss Know It All knew the answer to every question ever asked of her, except one: What’s the largest room in the world? The answer…

Room for improvement.

Day One: Getting Out of Bed. My first positive change is being implemented today. I got out of bed as soon as the alarm sounded. I am a snooze hound. I will hit snooze seven or eight times before I finally roll out of bed in the mornings. In fact, I will purposely set the alarm 30 minutes earlier than necessary just so I can have the pleasure of hitting snooze repeatedly. Dom hates this habit of mine. When the alarm clock was on my side of the bed (which did not last long, mind you) as the alarm buzzed, Dom would kick me until I got up. Then, we moved the alarm clock to the other side of the room so that we had to physically walk to it and turn it off. That solution didn’t last long either, because I figured out that if I crawled to the foot of the bed and leaned waaaaaaaaaay over the footboard, I could reach the snooze button with my middle finger. It is amazing how much trouble I will cause myself just for that snooze. The alarm is now my phone which charges on Dom’s nightstand, so when it chimes at 5:15 every morning, he tosses it at me, and I snooze – waking every 9 minutes to stare at that bright screen and delay the rising for a little longer.

But not today. Today, I got out of the bed at 5:15. This is important. Change is not easy, but change in my routine is necessary if there is to be positive change in my spirit.

Here we go.