30 Day Challenge – Day 14

Mornings are a challenge for me.

They always have been. I’m notorious for causing my sisters to be late so many mornings in a row to school that they ended up getting detention. They don’t let me live this down. Whoops.

I struggle to wake up because I never wake up feeling well rested. I tend to have a hard time falling asleep and then, almost every night, I wake myself up tossing and turning.

When it is time to wake up I’m miserable. Sometimes I’m so tired it actually hurts.

Anyway, the problem with this for me is I hit snooze repeatedly and I don’t give myself any time to actually have a morning before I have to leave for work. I also end up being late way too often.

This pattern I’ve fallen into stresses me out and also means I’m not achieving any of my goals because I literally give myself no time.

I’ve recognized I need to create a new routine for myself – I have to build healthy habits. BUT HOW? Ugh. Clearly it’s not going to magically happen all by itself.

One of the first steps to making a change is identifying WHY I really want to change. If the WHY isn’t strong enough, then the chances of me succeeding are very slim. So in my example if I simply say, “I really should wake up earlier,” that’s not going to get me very far. I’ve already established I don’t enjoy waking up early and so that’s not a very strong reason.

BUT if I say, “I have to wake up earlier because I have to give myself more time to work on my goals before work,” now I’m getting somewhere.

Digging deeper than that, “I have to wake up earlier because when I don’t the rest of my day is off. I feel like a failure. I have no time to workout, to write, to read, to meditate, to get myself properly ready for my day and to get to work on time.”

If I go a little bit further, “I have to wake up earlier because I have a strong desire to be a healthy and responsible person (right now I don’t feel good about myself – I’d really like to change that) and because one day I want to be a mom and perhaps even a mentor or a role model for others.”

BINGO. That’s a lot more powerful than, “I really should wake up earlier.”

I’ve done a good amount of research and would like to go into more depth on this topic but for now, have you ever successfully established new habits? What do you think helped you succeed? What are some reasons people struggle to make a change?

One of the healthy habits I’d like to establish is cooking at home more. Pictured above: Veggie Burgers with Cheddar Cheese and sweet potato fries. Yes that’s also some bubbly 😘

Warning: This is not a toy

Actual handcuffs, Brooklyn NY

One day, Jerry found an old pair of handcuffs in one of his grandfather’s junk drawers. He thought it’d be a great idea to handcuff himself to his cousin Mikey. Thinking they were toys, because only cops have real handcuffs, he handcuffed himself.

His cousin, however, chose not to participate.

When Jerry tried to take off the handcuffs he quickly realized these were not toys. 

His father didn’t have the keys either. No one did. Not even the police department who laughed when they showed up looking for help to take them off.

“Try the fire department” they chuckled.

So Jerry and his dad went to the fire department. And sure enough, they were able to cut off the handcuffs with clippers

As a thank you, Jerry brought the firefighters some cookies. But honestly, I’m sure being able to tell this story to others was a reward of its own 😂