#16 | Missed Day(s)
Yeah, I missed yesterday’s daily post. My excuse? I just didn’t have the time. I was tired. I had other work to do. I wasn’t feeling it. I wasn’t feeling much of myself (more on that later). Is it a valid excuse? Hell no. 100 words is close to nothing. I think more than 100 words within my first few minutes of waking up. I’ve probably reached over 50 words already by the end of this sentence. I should be able to write a 100 words a night, no problem. And I could’ve written those 100 words or at least thought about what to write about, while (1) I was cooking dinner last night, (2) I was in a lull between my grading work, (3) in the hour I was awake up before 8am. I made a promise to myself that I would write for 100 consecutive days, and that’s broken now. But I can still make 100 posts in 101 days. So let’s keep going.
I also promised myself (and my non-existent readers) (if you’re reading this, you do exist and I thank you for reading this, I’ve just come to expect my personal posts don’t really reach anybody because I’m writing these for myself, mainly) that I wouldn’t complain about my health any longer, because I’m thankful it’s at where it’s at even though it’s not where I want it to be. I’ve talked about how I hurt my back weightlifting and my knee running, and so those are still on the mend.
But I’d like to write a little more about the effects of it. I’ve written in one of my weekly summer reflection that exercise is my keystone habit. It enables me to make good decisions throughout the day and keeps me happy and motivated.
So in the past few weeks (especially in the past few days after my birthday) without consistent exercise, my decision making and mental health has noticeably dipped. I’ve been snoozing my alarm much more, not wanting to get out of bed because I shouldn’t exercise so I don’t re-aggravate my back. I’ve been getting hooked on Reddit, the NBA offseason, and politics and writing less Yelp reviews or work after I get home. I’ve been thinking more about the ways I would change myself rather than being thankful for who I am and what I have. I’ve been thinking more about the past and the mistakes I’ve made (especially with the weightlifting and running) rather than living in the present and figuring out a way to move forward.
The following assumes that my current mental predicament is due to my lack of health and exercise. I’ve realized that my day can go sour easily if I don’t fulfill my keystone habit of exercise. And so that means my keystone habit shouldn’t be exercise, because I could get hurt and lose the great effects that come with doing the habit. My keystone habit should be something plausible that I can do everyday at any time, no matter my physical condition or whereabouts.
I think I’m going to turn to meditation.
