Taking care of myself

Of all my flaws, perhaps the most significant is this: I’m useless when it comes to taking care of myself. That needs to change.

As examples: I don’t eat well; I don’t get enough exercise; I don’t sleep enough; and I don’t spend enough quality time by myself. That’s not an exhaustive list, but it illustrates the point.

The result of my lack of self-care is a poor quality of life. I generally don’t have a lot of energy; I lack enthusiasm for my daily tasks; I don’t focus as well as I would like to. Worst of all, I get stuck in my comfort zone of living badly and typically lack the motivation to get out of it.

Well, that all has to stop. My life is short and precious and I intend to live it positively.

However, I know myself quite well. If I try to suddenly and significantly change my lifestyle, it’s quite likely that I’ll do things differently for a short while and then go back to my current habits.

So my strategy is this: I shall become awesome one step at a time.

The first step is sleep. Last night I was in bed before 9 and asleep before 10. This morning I felt a little more rested than I usually do, but not much. For now, I’ll carry on going to bed early and waking up early. From previous experience of getting better quality sleep, I’m confident that I’ll see significant benefits in as short a time as a few days. That’s step 1 in the process of self-improvement.

Step 2 will involve exercise. I’m not going to beat myself up about it until I’ve settled into the new sleep pattern, but I intend to use the extra time I will have in the mornings (from waking up early) to exercise. I know from experience that when I’m fit I have more energy, focus and positivity.

Step 3 will include a bit of re-training myself to eat well. I eat a lot of fast food, a lot of processed food, a lot of carbs, a lot of sugary foods. It’s got to the point where I wonder if I have a mild addiction to carbs and sugar. So I intend to break that habit by eating well. In my experience, my eating preferences are generally dictated by my eating habits, not the other way round. So I’ll teach myself to enjoy healthy food by eating it.

There will be further steps. But for now, these three will do. Step one – sleep – will get my attention until it becomes my normal, and then I’ll focus on step 2, then step 3, and then we’ll see what else I want to change.

I look forward with (slightly bleary and fuzzy) enthusiasm to living an improved lifestyle.