November is THE month for gratitude, ad I had it in spades. I AM EVEN GRATEFUL FOR SPADES.
We're healthy. Our kids are healthy. All of our parents an sibling and their partners and kids are healthy. How could I be anything but abundantly grateful? We have everything we need and most of the things we want, and we hosted Thanksgiving so there are leftovers. Still. So many. I got my hair cut and colored. I have read amazing books, including new ones by my favorite authors. The kids are doing well in school. Sweet little Jack, who was so overwhelmed by 5th grade work in the first couple weeks of school that I sent a goal for myself of having him be self-sufficient at it by the end of the year, can do all of his work by himself without complaint or any help already and it's not even Christmas. Harry chose a World's Greatest Dog ornament at the Christmas tree farm, because SHE IS. We went out with wonderful friends and saw movies and made delicious food. We had movie nights, and I started running again on the elliptical, or at least walking fast enough to beak a sweat. And I? Am grateful for all of it.
What I am leaving in November:
No doing yoga.
I want to do it! The problem is, I set myself an everyday goal, and I cannot do it everyday. The rest of my everyday gets in the way, and then I don't do it and I feel so so so guilty about it. So I wind up being angry at myself which always makes she angry at others AND ALSO my back and shoulder are starting to hurt again, and I had ZERO shoulder pain when I was doing yoga on the regular, even when I have PMS, which is when my shoulder always always hurts.
Ok. I want to do yoga. Now, how in the hell am I going to make that happen?
Well, wouldn't you know, Gretchen Rubin has written a WHOLE BOOK about how to make a habit stick, and in that book, she has 21 strategies for keeping habits. Here are the ones I want to try:
Strategy of Monitoring: I will do yoga 3 times a week for 30 minutes per session. It is hard for me to find 30 minutes in a row-- I have started breaking my cardio into 2 or 3 chunks, but since I only do cardio 5 days a week, I can do yoga on the weekends and then find 30 minutes SOME OTHER TIME one day a week. I think this is doable.
Strategy of Pairing: I am only going to burn this amazing pink Himalayan sea salt candle I have when I do yoga. This will help me WANT to make time. I truly love this candle, and I just don't burn it because I am cheap and it always sells out. But! If it burns all the way down, I will be so proud of myself for doing that much yoga that I won't mind getting a new one. And if Madewell doesn't have any, I can choose from a billion delicious candles at Homegoods (I just discovered their candle selection last weekend and YES). So special candle= MOAR yoga.
Strategy of the Clean Slate: I totally biffed yoga in November, but December! Is a whole new month!
Strategy of Convenience: Putting yoga on the weekend is where I hope to play into this strategy. And! I hate the kids waking me up by bursting into the bedroom with Beatrix when I am sound asleep. I think waking up 30 minutes earlier to make coffee and do some gentle yoga is exactly what my weekends need. I am also going to look for a couple of videos (so much good yoga on Prime) for bedtime specifically because a lot of night I fall asleep on the couch watching TV, and I might have more TV stamina if I took a slow 30 minutes to unwind with yoga before plopping down on the couch for the night.
Well, there you have it. I love my life, but would love it more with yoga on the regular.
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