Creating New Habits

How long has it been since I have written a post? The last few years have been filled with writing, with running, with teaching, and with learning. I completed a thesis about female writers and the power of phallocentric language. I began working on a master's degree in creative writing and have been writing chapters of a memoir. But I have been neglecting this blog, which has, in the past afforded me the ability to explore different topics without the worry of a decent grade or spot of income. Writing for pure pleasure needs to become a full fledged habit, a habit which affords its own entry into my calendar.  

I have been fairly successful recently in establishing some new healthy habits. This journey began with an appointment with a plant-based nutritionist and running coach Kayla Slater. Each week we create new goals and I track them on my Habits app. I have found a successful approach is that of addition rather than subtraction. What I mean is that my first goal was to add in 5 or 10 minutes of meditation every day rather than stopping the consumption of sugar. I would track this goal to hold myself accountable each day. Each time I successfully completed my new task I would check off the box on the app, which is a strangely satisfying ritual. I have been adding tiny new habits to the application and now have a nice morning routine which includes a ten minute meditation on Headspace,  PT exercises while brushing my teeth, and a five minute warm up class on Peloton, before heading out the door to run with my dog Luna.  

Friends have always told me about the positive impact that meditation has had in their lives. A Covid 19 shutdown afforded me the luxury of a bit of extra time, time usually spent commuting, for the addition of a few new rituals and routine. Thus a daily mediation emerged from the depths of laziness and despair. I can now safely say that I should have listened to my friends earlier. As someone who tends to hold obsessive compulsions and tendencies, meditation was a way to take an edge off and provide my brain with some much needed rest. Not that I do not plan out my lessons in the middle of a body scan or rehearse my big "storming out of the building" scene. But there are moments of respite. I am grateful today for the new habits that I have incorporated into my busy life and career and family obligations. My list is now much longer than it was in April, but I feel a sense of pride when I tick the boxes on the app and now, click publish on this post. Thank you for sharing a few moments of your time with me. My goal today is to spend a few minutes each day writing, whether it be a poem, a jingle for Dr. Pepper, or a paper on the plallocentricity of language. .