Making New Habits

Week 2 of my personal intervention has dawned, and I'm pretty pleased with myself that I haven't gone off the deep end yet.  My accomplishments are small by most folks' standards, but for me they are a strong indicator that I am on the right path.  I have kept up with my walking buddy twice a week for these two weeks, which is a VERY important milestone for me.  If I didn't have her to be accountable to, I don't know that I would still be doing it.  So that old adage of doing something with a buddy does ring true - those times when I think, "Oh, it won't matter if I just skip tonight" turn into "Oh, I promised her I would be there...I have to go!"  And so I keep up with my promise.  I know I made a promise to myself with this whole personal intervention thing, but somehow keeping the one I made to her that we will walk together makes it much easier to maintain.

I'm also pretty pleased that I haven't gone full-bore, burn-myself-out-fast, on this whole intervention.  I've gone that road before...strict diet and aggressive exercise...and all it does is set me up for failure very quickly.  I can't maintain that pace for any amount of time, and then I'm diving back into the Oreos like nobody's business.  Easing into it seems to be a better fit for me, making small changes, little additions here and there.  This time I'm going to do it.

I figured exercise is the hardest habit for me to form, so it will be the one that takes the longest to really sink in.  There are many schools of thought out there on just how long it takes to form a habit - 21, 28, 30, even 66 days to make a new activity become a habit.  I'm not so sure I want to set a numerical value to how long I have to exercise before it becomes a habit, but I am definitely going to "keep on keeping on" and look at what I have accomplished as my personal metric for how well I'm doing.  Plus, my new habit doesn't just involve me, there are other factors that come into play which are be hard to juggle - I work full time, I have 5 kids and a husband, parents who are here much of the week, plus numerous volunteering activities likes Scouts, PTA, school, etc.  I don't care what any fitness coach says, it is HARD to fit in exercise when your life is already full.

So, like I said, exercising a little for 2 solid weeks is a big deal for me, and I'm going to take that as a success!  I can do this!