Highway 20 Ride

[Jer2911]

I really like that "how can I improve today?" What a great approach -- just one day at a time, one small thing at a time. Sometimes looking in the mirror and seeing the big changes we need to make can be overwhelming, but to break it down to small things on a daily basis makes change easy to achieve.

Right after BD I immediately decided to make some significant changes -- but did focus on them one-day-at-a-time... For example, I've always been a night owl and someone who prefers to sleep in. Thanks to the severe anxiety I experienced right after BD (and the shock my body was in), I had a lot of trouble sleeping. I immediately just decided to start a new habit of getting up very early and starting my day before everyone else in the house. I knew this would be a challenge for me once the anxiety and shock wore off -- but I used that time to do it one-day-at-a-time and now the habit seems to have stuck. I almost can't believe that I'm doing it -- I mean I was REALLY a night owl so this was a huge change in my personal habits. Another one-day-at-a-time change was starting to meditate. I knew I would not see/feel any immediate results and that I would have to commit to doing it every day even if I wasn't feeling the results. I have not skipped a day since I started this a couple of months ago and now I think I can feel more peacefulness throughout the day on most days. More importantly, I do this first thing in the morning after my shower -- before everyone else is awake -- and I find myself looking forward to it and can't imagine not doing it every morning. Like it's just not even an option to not do it any more.

The key to those changes though was a focus on one-day-at-a-time... Not thinking "okay - I'm going to do this for the rest of my life," but instead thinking "I'm definitely doing this today and I am going to strive to do it again tomorrow..." and then thinking the exact same thing the next morning.

But I also like your focus on other small changes -- like cleaning your desk and stuff like that. Just one thing per day... I've done that as well and it definitely helps me feel better about myself and life in general.

:-)