Come Back to It
What is the “it” the title is referring to? Whatever you make of it.
I love too many things. Really, don’t make me choose. I have my Medium blog primarily for medical themed blogging, and my website, just to name a few. It’s currently January 2022, and I am partly writing this blog just because I haven’t written on Medium in a while. Why not? For ONE very simple reason- I haven’t felt like creating original artwork to add to my articles.
I try to have something artistic incorporated into all of my blogs, but I haven’t felt like it. This time of year is the time of year where most people think about their New Year’s resolutions. Someone else in my shoes may make a commitment to “write 30 minutes a day” or “work in a sketchbook daily” but those goals don’t work for my brain.
Lately I’ve been wanting to write and research, but not draw or paint. Why commit to chipping away at those goals daily? I don’t have the mental energy and motivation to sustain those kinds of daily goals. Instead I will write and create drafts as the inspiration strikes, and I will draw and finish those drafts when so motivated.
I will not feel guilty for not creating daily- which I sometimes need to remind myself. I will not pretend that I can transform myself or my habits all at once either. I would recommend this piece of advice for anyone- make monthly goals instead. Hear me out on this.
Just as an example, many people have goals to lose weight, get in shape, get healthy, etc… You do realize that’s not as easy as it sounds right? Break it up! I had read somewhere, and I do apologize I don’t remember where, that to create a new habit, you need a cue, the routine, and a reward. That’s for good and bad habits.
My husband used to smoke cigarettes. Every time he got into his car, he would light up a cigarette- getting in the car was his brain’s cue, the cigarette was the routine, and the nicotine was the reward. I used to go to the gym on my lunch breaks. My lunch break time would come up- that was my cue. Walking across the street to walk on the elliptical was my routine, and feeling good about myself was my reward.
Let’s circle back to getting healthy. That incorporates exercise and healthy eating, so you need to intentionally figure out your cues, routines and rewards! For me, this month I am trying to walk daily. It’s hard though because I haven’t figured out a good cue to tell my brain to get up and go. Next week I will see if eating dinner can become a good cue to get up and walk.
If you break up your steps into monthly goals, you can devote more attention to each goal, and if you fail, the first of the month isn’t far way to pick yourself back up and start again. Hopefully by the end of January, I will be walking daily. February will be a continuation of daily walking plus one more simple goal.
Circle back to it! If you stumble, get up and try again. It’s okay.
Here I’d like to list some sites or apps that I find helpful:
Exercise goals: WorkoutLabs provides customized workouts. You can input how often you plan to work out, your goals and available equipment. It will build a routine for you with pictures. They’re also on Pinterest!
Healthy eating: MyPlate is a great resource. You can take a quiz to find your optimal calorie intake, and learn about correct portion sizes. It’s very, very simple. For example, I am supposed to eat so much fruit a day. I downloaded their app, and if I eat a banana for breakfast, I can check off the “eat fruit with breakfast” goal.
Need help getting organized? My favorite app to stay on top of my goals and responsibilities is Color Note. It’s like sticky notes for your phone. You can create different colored notes as checklists or simple text. My favorite feature is the calendar. Every day my Color Note pops up a reminder on what exercises I planned for myself that day, reminders to take out the recycling, anything. I have mine set up to give me a biweekly reminder to work on my continuing education credits for my EMT certification.
I realize this article may not seem to fit in with my normal medical themed writing, but we should all have professional goals, or strive to learn new things.
I do not publish behind a “paywall,” so read all you’d like.
