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First, I would like to thank you all for reading and following me and supporting me in my journey to mental health. It means a lot to see your comments encouraging me. Sometimes, its the only thing that keeps me going in the right direction. I have my bad days where I want to give up and just not bother with anything. But then I get a note of encouragement and shared struggle and that gives me the strength to continue on. I appreciate you all, thank you so much!
I hope that your new year is coming along well. To start this year, I was not hungover (even though I had a few drinks) and even got writing done the very first day. I’m pretty proud of myself for beginning the year in a way I wanted to. At my last therapy appointment, my social worker asked me what my goals for the new year were going to be—I told him that I don’t do resolutions, as I believe we can change slowly over time. But I did say that I wanted to work more on my writing, work on my health (physical health: eating better, working out, stretching, etc.), and continue making progress on my mental health. There isn’t much room for more, is there?
I haven’t outlined a plan yet, but I have a few ideas that should help me. Number one is stickies. I plan on putting them everywhere from “Did you remember to floss/brush your teeth?” to “Did you meditate today?” I think these reminders will help. I always get big rushes of energy and want to do so much at once, but I’m going to try to make small changes.
For my health, I’ve decided to eat veggies with breakfast. Which sounds gross, but I’ve been putting asparagus or leeks in my eggs every morning. It may not lead to totally health overhaul, but that is one extra serving of vegetables I wasn’t eating before, and to me that’s worthy of celebration. It reminds of the creed several of my NaNoWriMo friends say: that’s one more word than you had before. It’s all about the small changes we make in our lives.
What tips do you have for making new habits or reminding yourselves?
Writerly Words 
Happy new year to you, Andrew.
I put smiley face stickers on my wall calendar on each day that I do my planned exercise. It’s usually bicycling for at least an hour. Sometimes it’s walking. If I have a day where I do more than one exercise session, I put a sticker for each session .
There’s something very gratifying about seeing the calendar page full of 🙂 faces at the end of the month. Star stickers will do the trick, too. Any sticker of commendation that works for you will do, actually.
I like your idea of adding veggies to your morning food. Come to think of it, I used to add some kind of green powdered veggie glarp to my morning smoothie,
Somehow, I got out of the habit. I think the bottle was misplaced when I moved. I have never thought about it again. Thank you for reminding me.
Carry on, Andrew. You’re doing great, even when you think you’re not.
Marta
Marta! I’m glad I could help remind you of morning veggies. I really like that idea of stickers on the calendar. Now what I need to do it go out and get some fun stickers! 😀
As a health teacher, I suggest that you look into the work of a guy named Prochaska about how to make health behavior changes. Most changes end up in relapse because people take on too much at once or just don’t plan well enough, including planning for the likelihood of relapse (even the smallest change is not easy). I have some instructions and forms that I give my students to use – let me know if you would like copies. And good luck with your changes!
Thank you! If you have a link you could post here that would be awesome!