This October I Will ...
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@harvestmeadow and @jrsepe12
Looking forward to seeing your plans! Let me know if I can help!!
Best,
Maddie ❤️
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Day 2 check in.
@SummerSkier , strength training at night is tough. I hope you celebrated extra for getting that done when you weren’t feeling it!
Okay, I’m going to share something else from the books I’m reading about habits. B.J. Fogg in Tiny Habits says if you are struggling with a habit, don’t beat yourself up over your lack of willpower. Instead, look at your system and see how you can make the habit done more easily. So, if the time you’ve decided to do a habit isn’t working, consider how you could move it to a better time. If the cue isn’t working, think of a better cue.
I think finding the right time for my journaling was what helped me be successful after so many failed attempts. I thought I’d write a page first thing in the morning - it turns out that was too much and at a bad time. I wasn’t going to wake up a half hour earlier. At bedtime was another bad time.
@PKM0515 , yay for 2 days!2 -
I would like to rejoin this group. I had rejoined mid July only to have my mother die unexpectedly shortly afterward. It has been a challenging journey since then as I worked to put my life back in order. I would like to continue here as I gained and learned so much from reading everyone's posts. I am going back to my first habit I posted with this group which is adding an extra form of exercise to my day. Thanks to this group, I have recently added a tracker to my life with which I am experimenting but for this post I will focus on the extra daily exercise, whatever that may be, as this continues to be an area of challenge for me. I am good about getting in the walking but I would like to add more to my fitness routine.
1. My goal for this month of October is to add an extra bit of exercise beyond walking every day even if just for a few minutes
2. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit is a reminder on my tracker and checking in here with this group.
4. I will strive to do something daily but be flexible in my approach.
5. My reward is knowing I am adding strength and flexibility to my body for long term health.
6. What help do you need from us? Support and encouragement
7. What does success look like to you at the end of October? Being able to look back at the month and my tracker and see that I made forward progress.
Hello to all!4 -
Welcome back @znaoiec ❣️ I’m very glad you are rejoining us! I’m also Very sorry to hear about your mom 🙏🏻💞 I hope you are able to find some comfort in your memories.
I love your goal this month!!
🌸🌼🌸
Maddie1 -
@znaoiec , I’m so sorry to hear of the loss of your mother. Grief can be overwhelming- much sympathy.
Welcome back to our group. It sounds like adding exercise to your day is a good plan. Make sure to celebrate each time you complete this new exercise habit with a cheer, fist pump, or whatever feels like a natural and fun way to cheer yourself on. Those celebrations support the habit that will deliver strength and flexibility.2 -
@znaoiec welcome back to the habit trackers group. I am really sorry to read about the unexpected loss of your mother. That must've been so hard for you. Hugs and my condolences 💖💐 .
Returning to your first habit that you had posted with this group back then seems so fitting to celebrate your rejoining, and adding your habits back to your life. Good for you!!!
Welcome to all the new members @PKM0515, @rhaiin, @goingape, we are glad that you are joining us in making and tracking habits.
I loved all the other posts.... way too many for me to comment on... however, rest assured that the trackers, posts, and photographs, as well as all the words of both wisdom and humor were so worth staying up to read them all 😀💖 .
I will continue my September's habit of enjoyment as I know how easily this particular habit can fall off the grid when I am dealing with any sort of stressful situation.
Also, I will add in two additional ones: The first one will be one that I have revisited several times over the years and I still struggle with it:
I will go to bed earlier than I have been going. I won't specify an exact time at this moment, because I have been way off the chart right now, so every bit of improvement is worth noting this month. Yep, very true that I have been that far off with my sleep times for at least the last several months, if not more. (I do have a goal that I am working toward.)
And the second one is a habit that I have already been working on to get better doing, so I'm posting it for my own accountability and improvement.
I am attempting to take my herbs/ supplements more consistently. I hate to take pills of any kind, whether it be an herb or an antibiotic... 🤪🥴 . For this I am not aiming at perfection, just increasing how consistently I take them each day. Because each day is different for me... whether I am home, how much I eat or when, along with some other factors... there is a certain amount of leeway, however, I still know when I'm truly doing well with this or not.
I will read my book and/or color some every day. 📖 = reading a book for fun, 📜= coloring
I will go to bed earlier than I have been recently. 😴 = in bed earlier, awake way too late =❌
I will take my herbs/supplements more consistently. I took my herbs = 🌿, I didn't = 🥴
October 1: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
October 2: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
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Plans for this month include trying to carve out some more time for self care. It’s difficult since I work full time and help care for an Alzheimer’s patient. Also on the to do list is exercise and eating healthier. Small inroad into exercise: my co worker and I are walking at lunch. I also began the Daniel Fast and am definitely eating more healthy! So glad you are all here for support.5
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Welcome back and welcome new!!! Love how busy this board is getting to be.
@77tes you are absolutely correct about the weight lifting (even just 5 minutes) at night. After the first night I knew that was not going to work so I added it to my afternoon walk and it was much easier (still a bit of a toss) to get done for day 2.
@znaoiec that is so difficult to lose a parent. I am glad you have found your way to start here again!
@texasgardnr the go to bed earlier one can be difficult. Sleep is so critical. And small steps. At least you GOT in bed earlier right? I find that I have to make sure all my "devices" are in sleep mode and not easily accessible to me so that I am not tempted to "check" on things. And then of course I also have some sleep aides which i don't take daily but try to limit to 1 or 2 times a week max. Lunesta REALLY works well for me but my Dr says it is very addictive so I only take it when I have just been struggling for several days.
@jrsepe12 even carving out a little time can be helpful. I always found that if I stopped to visit my Mom (dementia) after riding that I had much more patience and tranquility in working with her. Best of luck to you this month!
and remember that with a lot of folks things can seem overwhelming so I give EVERYONE permission to just post their updates without trying to be social butterflies and respond to all the wonderful updates from others.
SummerinTxinAutumn
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1. This October I will...create & do guided visualizations a minimum of 15 minutes every day. Update: my LACEMVP saved me tonight, so I will continue this through October. Adding 7 hrs of sleep = S.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal Straightening/clearing my art table each evening & looking at live sessions on Insight Timer & noting them in my calendar.Have veggies, hummus, & soups in stock at all times. Go to bed by 11, phone down by 12.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit When I record my food after each meal,I will check in with myself on all items.
4. I will do this daily!
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? Peace, they both make me feel peaceful & happy. I will write for 5 minutes after creating the art and/or the mindfulness but at least one of them each day. Insights!!I will be healthier & able to maintain this weight/go lower.
6. What help do you need from us? Participate in the group as you are able! I love reading about your lives & am inspired by your accomplishments & wisdom. I’m missing many of my friendships.
7. What does success look like to you at the end of October? I will have accomplished my goals & be even more peacefully happy & have even more ideas for future art creation in my 5-minute reflections!I will have a healthier diet quality & be this wt or lower!
Most of these are established or mostly established habits for me....what I’m TRULY working on - I realized last night - is crafting a life in recent retirement that has balance, peace, and joy AND a thriving art practice. Writing reflections works amazingly well for me! 😂😂
Guided visualizations=🧘♀️
Create = 🎨 🧵 ✍️ 🍂 or ✂️ (Paint, textile arts, drawing or creative writing, nature art, or collage)
Reflections= 📓
Sleep 😴w/ hrs
LACEMVPS legumes-art-clean-exercise-mindfulness-veggies-protein-sleep
Oct 1 🎨✂️ 🧘♀️ 📓😴7-8 LACEMVPS
Oct 2 🎨🧵🧚🏻 🧘🏻♂️ 📓😴6hr LACEMVP
I stayed up late painting and writing 3 pages of reflections, as I listened to Celtic harp music: Bliss ❤️
Oct 3
Oct 4
Oct 5
Oct 6
Oct 7
Have an awesome day!
I find “I’ll just do 5 minutes“ works best for me.
I find earlier in the day is the best time for me to tackle tasks I am less enthused about.3 -
Thank you, @77tes! To everyone, I appreciate the supportive community; forgive me if I have trouble keeping up.
I'm going to try to post pictures of my "tracker" and corresponding "paperwork". ;-)
The "tracker" is a coloring page from Jess Volinski's "Colorful Creations, Positively Inspired" adult coloring book. And I owe the quote/inspirational thought idea to @MadisonMolly2017; I actually stole the first quote from her!
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There are many creative trackers here. SO many great ideas and insights as well! I’ll attach my tracker as it looked pre-tracking. I’ve chosen to keep my main goal of using my daily planner early in the day to loosely schedule in my goals. I’m keeping most of last month’s with a few adjustments. I’ve also changed my 30 min to 10 minutes. I decided I had to “think smaller” (thanks, @77tes)! I’ve learned that having goals that are too lofty end up with me feeling like I failed AGAIN! And who has time for that!?! I also go for passing, minimum 70%, not perfect. That was hard to process at first but I’m getting there. It’s much prettier today than it was pre-October, but I’ll save that Reveal for after week 1.
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Gosh @nebslp I do like that you have split the month and put success as a %... I mean habits are not necessarily things that we do EVERY day and such. But you do have a LOT of items on here so it's a good variety. And very wise to change the 30 minutes *which can be daunting!* to 10 because who of us can't do just 10 minutes!!!
My update (without the busy background for now.. I did but some colored pens and highlighters so I am thinking that I might print it out sans color and fill it up manually which would be a lot more fun and then I could have monthly trackers to looks at physically. Yeah - I know - more paper. But those tigers are not one of my problems typically. They stay in the corner vs roar.
Good Morning all! Happy Sunday.
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My list is long, but so are most of my days since I'm retired. I am struggling though this week on a personal level and my mood swings from anger to fear and back unless I'm very engaged in a project. Give me 2 weeks, I'll be back to "normal" whatever that means for me
In the meantime, I've been studying French a lot and trying to figure out how to organize my photos. I need a better system, so that's the project for tonight. I learned how to tag photos yesterday but now I'm wondering if I move them to Google Photo and an external hard drive if the tags will go with them or if it's a waste of time to do it. There's a quote that fits me perfectly, but I can't remember where it's from.
It says, "Most people think they lack motivation when they really lack clarity."
I need to clean up all of the random paper/sticky note/napkin scrawling/notebook musings that are scattered all over my table(s) and get organized. After all, that is my primary goal
The other things on my list are what I'm hoping to accomplish by having a plan and carrying it out. 3 -
Welcome to day 5 my friends! How is everyone doing?!!!
@nebslp Is any one of us actually NORMAL????
Hey if you figure out a good photo system let me know. One thing I am working on is letting go of duplicates. I mean do I really need 10 photos of the same heavenly blue morning glory? (of course I do... duh!). My ex was a professional sort of photographer and I can remember when he would pick up the prints from the shop and it would drive me crazy that he would literally RIP UP the photos which he did not find perfect. It's so nice these days to have instant feedback on photos. Hard to remember when you just shot them and hoped for the best.
I am struggling still with the weight training and almost missed it last night but just was checking in and realized I had forgotten to do it after my walk. I had gotten distracted because I had the biggest coughing fit on my walk and was SURE I HAD THE PLAGUE.... and my chest still hurts a little from it. But no fever... I hate this pandemic. hate hate hate... Anyway, so just before bed I put the timer on 5 minutes and did some calistenics. And I am paying for it as I woke up with the middle of my back hurting last night. Yup. Planks are Not my friend.
Summer checking in.... and look at this little beauty which only blooms in spring?!!!
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That is certainly an unusual flower, @SummerSkier. Beautiful! Is is on a bush or come up from seed?
Somet things I've learned the past 4 months:
Just because a habit is working well for 2 months, it still needs to be on some type of checklist to keep me from backsliding. That has happened with my old goal of "turn off my iPad at 11:15 (Aug) and 11:05 (Sept)." I almost always was in bed by 11:30. I took it off my goal list...thought I had it mastered. We're hardly into October and I've had two straight nights of staying up late (between 1-2) and wasting precious sleep time. Then I feel bad the next day and don't have the energy I need to be productive. Another downfall to staying up late is doing late night snacking for no other reason than I'm still awake. UGH! Then I feel bad the next day......
It's essential to have a time or event trigger to remind me to do something. After the first month of looking at the clock every couple of minutes before 11, my body just took over and could feel when it was getting close without even looking. The same thing happened with getting my morning steps in. In July and August I would often catch myself at 11:55 having to "run" around the house for 5 minutes to get my 1000/1100 steps in before noon. I'm kind of amazed that I'm finding 1300 steps easy peasy now. It's only because I've changed my other habit of getting out of bed and telling myself I needed time to wake up so I sat in my chair and drank coffee and read books or played games or watched TV instead of getting up and moving. It's truly becoming a habit to move between 8-10AM for sure.
Moving my vitamins to my personal care box in the bathroom worked like a charm. Rarely a day goes by that I don't remember to take them now. And I still pick up the bathroom before I leave almost every day because now it bugs me to leave things out.
Filling my coffee cup with water to drink while the coffee was brewing reminded me that I needed to rehydrate upon awakening even if it was only 12 ounces of water. I couldn't drink that coffee until the water was gone.
Little by little, we can establish one habit at a time as long as we're relentless and mindful about what is working, what is not, and then make adjustments.
Just some random thoughts for the day because I'm really good at procrastinating
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I've caught up reading the over the weekend posts. Too many to comment on individually at this time, however there were many insightful thoughts and ideas are being shared 💖🎈. I am definitely going to implement several this month. Thank you!
So true about having to stay on top older habits!
@nebslp, Special hugs 💖 🤗 🌹 for you dear one.
I will read my book and/or color some every day. 📖 = reading a book for fun, 📜= coloring
I will go to bed earlier than I have been recently. 😴 = in bed earlier, awake way too late =❌
I will take my herbs/supplements more consistently. I took my herbs = 🌿, I didn't = 🥴
October 1: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
October 2: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
October 3: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
October 4: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
Yes, I've 'gotten into bed' earlier, but definitely not back (yet of course) to my better time from other months way back...... But getting better bit by bit, but the best part is that I am becoming acutely aware again that I am staying up and twice I did the get into the bed 100 second dash, so to speak 😲😱🤪 . You know what I mean 🤦♀️🏃♀️🛌😴 ...
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SummerSkier wrote: »Welcome to day 5 my friends! How is everyone doing?!!!
@nebslp Is any one of us actually NORMAL???? Hey if you figure out a good photo system let me know. One thing I am working on is letting go of duplicates. I mean do I really need 10 photos of the same heavenly blue morning glory? (of course I do... duh!). My ex was a professional sort of photographer and I can remember when he would pick up the prints from the shop and it would drive me crazy that he would literally RIP UP the photos which he did not find perfect. It's so nice these days to have instant feedback on photos. Hard to remember when you just shot them and hoped for the best.
I am struggling still with the weight training and almost missed it last night but just was checking in and realized I had forgotten to do it after my walk. I had gotten distracted because I had the biggest coughing fit on my walk and was SURE I HAD THE PLAGUE.... and my chest still hurts a little from it. But no fever... I hate this pandemic. hate hate hate... Anyway, so just before bed I put the timer on 5 minutes and did some calistenics. And I am paying for it as I woke up with the middle of my back hurting last night. Yup. Planks are Not my friend.
Summer checking in.... and look at this little beauty which only blooms in spring?!!!
Gorgeous photo!
I have hesitated writing some thoughts to you as you are the pro in my mind.
So, I keep getting a little whisper that Summer is pushing it too hard. Believe me, I Understand!!! I’ve had to flex since mid-August due to hazardous air for at least 5 of those weeks. Worried my hunger would rage, or I’d lose all my fitness gains, gain wt etc.
But part of putting Health First is Not hiking in high particulate air (me) nor doing yoga when it/I caused a knee pain (likely pushing it too much) that still has not gone away (me) or running when you felt you should rest or doing planks & hurting back. I understand, really I do. But it might be time for some easing up a bit.
I know you will take or leave this, but felt I should share.
Sometimes the best thing is an actual rest. I learned I CAN whack my calories down if I need to & I can maintain (and lose) without as much exercise - and be plenty healthy.
I’m sorry the coughing caused issues & your back is sore.
In partnership
💞
Maddie
PS I was same as you with photos. I asked myself for each photo: “does this bring you joy?” Sometimes I pitched the lot of them, sometimes I kept 1, 3, or all.
One tip: do all non-sentimental photos First. I did all my teaching photos... then friends...then extended family (living) and then my family of origin (living) then me, husband ...and then our son. Not sure if & when I’ll do the family who has passed. No rush. We must exercise self-care especially at these times ❣️
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@nebslp this is a very interesting hedge type flower. I don't really think I have seen it flowering before. Interesting insight on habits and sometimes how easy it is to backslide when we don't monitor them on a frequent basis!
@MadisonMolly2017 that is quite some insights. Thank you! I really appreciate that you are concerned for my health. I do like to go after things 100% as you may have noticed. In partnership. Words heeded.
@texasgardnr I have to cross post and say that I usually don't do pansies until feb when it gets SO cold and gloomy and everything else is tucked up in the garage. And they do so well thru all the late frosts and such. I love how you have added to your tracker this month!! 2 more really mindful things (sleep and supplements!!!) Next month I might have to revisit the sleep as I just seem to be all over the place sometimes.
SummerreadyfordessertTIME!!!
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I love you guys!!
@SummerSkier So do I 150% it’s likely how I got the kidney disease.... thank you for taking the message as I meant it. I care a lot about all of you!
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I will read my book and/or color some every day. 📖 = reading a book for fun, 📜= coloring
I will go to bed earlier than I have been recently. 😴 = in bed earlier, awake way too late =❌
I will take my herbs/supplements more consistently. I took my herbs = 🌿, I didn't = 🥴
October 1: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
October 2: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
October 3: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
October 4: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
October 4: 📖 📜 😴 🌿
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@texasgardnr Looking GOOOOOD!!! (I am imagining how Andy Griffith would say that)! I think the plan to go to bed earlier instead of setting a specific time is a great idea. When my plans get too rigid, I get into trouble
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The fringe flower is hardy to Zone 7. Darn! I'm in zone 5 so I guess I'll just have to take a trip to TX next spring to see them in bloom:)
@SummerSkier About sorting photo duplicates...When I have 2 or more of basically the same photo, I compare different things between photos... 1. composition. Are there distractions? anything "growing" out of someone's head? are there leading lines that draw your eyes to different parts. Look for things that can't be edited easily and toss those. 2. exposure. over/under? Any blown-out areas or some too dark? Shadows, contrast? Sometimes this can be fixed, but not always and it takes time. 3. lighting. Did you catch that eye-light? Does the photo being backlit or side lit or other make it more striking? Finally, I would say to not get rid of any photos that you like immediately. Give each one a rating from 1-5 (most cameras and editing programs have that ability) and gently weed them out one at a time. Consider which one would be the most phenomenal with or without editing. There's nothing wrong with having some doubles when you love them both IMHO.
The reason photo organization is on my goal list is because I have so many photos on my computer that it's eaten up 51 GB on my C drive and I can no longer get updates because my storage is too low. The disorganization is overwhelming so I believe developing a system to put and keep things in order (whether it's photos or stuff) is as much a part of healthy living as eating good foods and getting regular exercise. I really need to work on those more though
Hi everyone else! I still need to go back and respond to so many posts...well, I want to anyway. I hope you're all having a terrific Tuesday
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@nebslp So which one of these would you keep? (I actually let them all stay on my computer because I have a ton of space on my Mac on purpose) but I only favorite the ones I would technically keep. Ill tell you which one I chose after you pick. LOL. I enjoy the composition of all of them in their own way but only one can be a keeper. And Maddie all of my photos are sentimental ones... LOL
@MadisonMolly2017 I have taken your thoughts to heart and today I took an ibuprofin.
@texasgardnr I agree with Rita, you are on a roll already this month!!
Here is my update:
October 1-5th all good
Decided to make the extra 5 minutes of weight lifting not a timed thing but just a habit I want to do of when I get back from a walk to pick up the hand weights and do a set of arm exercises. As far as recording the meds and the photo review I also decided to do that in the morning when I am more likely to be on my computer so it will be for the previous day most likely. But those more and more I don't feel like they are really habits so much as data collection and sorting type things. So I guess my real habits for the month of Oct have changed to just adding the minor weight lifting and continuing my previous ones (thanks @nebslp ) of staying off the rollercoaster
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@SummerSkier I can see why you kept all of them. I really like 2and 4, but 4 wins out for me because of the way my eye travels from the bottom left up to the butterfly and then back to the top left to the prominent flower. The butterfly’s position is easier to see than 2 and the body and spots are well defined and it looks like there is light coming from behind the wing. So ya, I convinced myself to vote for #4. Very nice pictures❣️ What’s your vote?1
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I chose 2 since you had a clearer view of the subject. Love your critical analysis tho. Thank you.1
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You are all doing so well. My October is off to a good although busy start. I attended a virtual ball on Saturday. That day would have been our local Playford-to-the-Present 20th anniversary Ball, and rather than just mourn that it didn’t happen, we had a virtual ball on Zoom. I dressed up, we even had musicians and a few dances. It was great to stay connected with the activity I love.
I’m being evaluated on my classes in less than an hour. I’ve been evaluated for in-person classes many times, but never for my online classes. Wish me luck.
I’ve been doing well on my journaling and grading - I’m trying to grade 5 essays per day 5 days per week before I do anything else for my classes.
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@SummerSkier My vote: I chose #2 immediately. Even when I went back and forth through all photos I kept coming back to #2. It is because I liked where the butterfly's position was in relation to the flowers, and also the angle of the butterfly. To me, personally, it was the most pleasing and relaxing one to gaze at.
You always take amazing pictures @SummerSkier 📸 .
Oops, I went back to reread before posting and the voting wasn't open to everyone 🤦♀️, but I'm gonna leave mine here anyway 🤣😁, only because I go through this often when I decide to declutter garden pics on my phone. Sometimes I just leave them without deleting until I learn how to transfer them to the computer and then I can see them better. No matter where they are stored it is hard to delete digital, or paper copies of photographs 😍. I do like reading your thoughts about decluttering photographs in your posts. I will have to to that (paper and digital) at some point also.
@nebslp You wrote: "When my plans get too rigid, I get into trouble." That is a good thought! So true!! I was much more rigid when I took on better sleep hours as several month's "I will" in the past. It actually wasn't sustainable over the next months.
I'm more relaxed doing it this way. And making progress without feeling that I'm failing or stressed about it.
@77tes WoW a virtual ball on Zoom! That must have been so much fun.... in a different way than what you are used to. That is awesome that Zoom is being used in more and more creative ways. Your tracker is getting colorful 🍂 !! I have confidence that you'll do well with the evaluations of your online classes ✔.
@SummerSkier and @nebslp thanks for the3 kudos 💖🌹 .
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@texasgardnr I am glad you took a look at the photos. I think it is important to hear other opinions. And funny you chose 2 like me. Thank you for your comments. I think this month the habit of favoriting them on my Mac will move over perhaps to next month of actually filing some of them in their folders. I have those set up but am bad about filing. sigh. It is impressive to me that more and more there are better ways to find photos when you want to. By date, location, subject, title (not that we rename them anymore) etc... I am so glad we no longer have to "scan" them to digitalize them.
@77tes dang I was hoping for a picture of the outfit from the ball. What a great idea that was!!!!!! And I hope that the evaluation goes smoothly. I had a new boss this year for my eval and she did not really know crap about me but it was all ok..
How is everyone doing this morning.
@MadisonMolly2017 who is SUPPOSED TO BE RUNNING this place claims she does not have enough time because of all the classes she is doing... LOL.. I think she could take 5 minutes? We have some missing members who might need her gentle encouragement (so much better at that then me - I am more a hammer vs cookie)
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ps @77tes your tracker is lovely to watch grow!
pps I have consumed ALL of my marbles. Does that mean I now have ALL the marbles and the rest of you have lost yours?
Or does that mean I no longer have any? There are so many ways to look at this!
@nebslp Is your week getting better and less stressful?0
