A Daily Commitment
No Resolutions or Even Intentions — Just a Commitment to a Daily Journal
My Own Authentic Journal
I never do resolutions. For many years, I’ve done intentions for the new year, instead. They are kind of a contract with my soul that rarely gets broken. I just wasn’t feeling any intentions bubbling up, for this year, and didn’t want to just make a bunch of stuff up. Instead, I simply committed to a daily journal, one designed to keep myself accountable for what I am committed to doing in my life, today.
I didn’t want to go with one of those pre-made-up journals, that all I had to do was fill in the blanks on an app. No, that would be holding myself accountable to some things someone else thinks I should be doing with my time. Been there, done that.
It has to be more authentic than that. It has to be about what I want to do with my time. I decided to evolve my own blanks to fill in, based on what’s important to me. I began it yesterday, laid it out, filled it in, and decided I would do it again, today. It’s a daily decision. If I’m serious about wanting to do the things I say I want to do, I’ll do the journal each day.
If It Worked Before…
I got the idea from the fact that it was a simple nutrition journal that I kept for a couple of months last year that got me on a track that led to losing 30 pounds, without really trying. I wanted to lose some weight, but I mainly wanted to get more fit.
It wasn’t about losing weight, it was about holding myself accountable to what I was taking in. Just doing that made me more aware of what I was eating, how many calories each thing was, and because I wanted my journal to look good, began making decisions about what I was willing to eat and have to put on there.
I evolved a goal of keeping my daily intake under 2,000 calories per day, which I’d discovered was more than doable, and just like that, within 3 months I’d lost 25 pounds, and I kept going to 30 lbs lost in 4 months. Then I decided to suspend training for a month and a half, from vacation in mid-November through the holidays. I stopped keeping track, and let up on what I was willing to eat, or not.
A Slippery Slope to Avoid
The slippery slope soon resembled an avalanche, and the pounds came back on. Luckily, only half of what I’d lost, but enough to see the value of accountability, and to see, clearly demonstrated, the slide that letting it all go can create.
So, I just decided to expand the journal, from nutrition to the other things that are important to me, how I spend my time each day. We’ll see how it goes, each day. I tried to keep it simple, not too time-consuming, just a way to make sure I’m doing what I say I want to be doing.
Daily Writing Commitment
Like, for instance, writing every day. I really want to get back to this, and here I am. I will be able to say, in my journal, that I wrote and posted a story today. Check that one off. (I wrote two yesterday — off to a great start!)
Good luck with those resolutions. I may yet evolve some intentions for the year — but for now, I’m feeling good about my commitment to the daily journal. That’s one I can accomplish, today. I’ll let the rest of the chips fall where they will. I’m already feeling successful about the whole thing. I’ll build on that.
