I am neurotic which keeps me on track with habits or I might die a thousand psychological deaths. I could however add eating a real dinner instead of the glob of cottage cheese I throw in a bowl with tomatoes. I can relate to the night time skin care routine because the bed is calling! good ideas here
Thanks Gail. Yes, it's that's staring in the face of the failure on some of these habits that makes me anxious and makes me want to shed some of them.
I feel you on dinner, I used to grab a starch (rice, potatoes, pasta) and melt some cheese on it to make dinner. When I went vegan (back when there were NO good vegan cheese options) I had to get a little more creative LOL
Dec 12, 2023·edited Dec 12, 2023Liked by Elisa Camahort Page
Great post, Elisa! This year I developed a daily exercise habit of 20-30 minutes of yoga (Yoga with Adrienne videos), 20-30 minutes cardio / strength (Pahla B videos), and 20-30 minutes of walking. The things that have helped me keep these habits are:
1. Activity enjoyment. Finding Yoga for Adrienne and Pahla B videos has helped so much. I find their videos fun. Pahla B talks A LOT, so I turn off the volume and listen to podcasts while I follow along with her movement, which makes it even more fun because then I'm doing 2 things I enjoy at once!
2. Manageable blocks of amount of time. I can usually squeeze in 20-30 minutes chunks.
3. Right time of day, which you also touched on, Elisa. I find that if I do the Pahla B video and Yoga for Adrienne videos in the morning, they go much faster (probably because I'm less tired). Taking a walk in the afternoon helps me feel better after sitting all day.
4. Understanding limits. After numerous injuries that have stopped my exercise progress, I've learned that I have to make modifications in order to exercise daily, or I get injured (e.g. I have a messed up toe, so I do a modified plank. I have a messed elbow, so I use lighter weights).
5. Sharing progress with a friend. Every day after I exercise I text one of my oldest friends to say I did it. It doesn't 'cause a heavy lift on her part. She just gives it a heart, or thumbs up.
6. Understanding what drives me. I love lists, order, and counting -- as evidenced by this comment ( : One of the reasons I like Yoga with Adrienne and Pahla B videos is that they have 30-day series, so as I make my way through (day 1, day, 2, day 3, etc.) I feel like I'm making progress.
7. Having a larger, positive vision. This is really the most important piece. I have people in my family who exercised and people who did not. As they aged, the ones who exercised aged waaaaaay better mentally and physically than the ones who didn't. I want to be able to do as many things as possible when I'm 60, 70, 80, 90. I go back to that positive vision when I don't feel like putting on my sneaks.
Wow, thanks for sharing this detail, Britt, really helpful and actionable. Maybe I should get back to Paula B and do the whole listen-to-something-else thing too. I did like her videos when Jory turned me on to them.
Love this Britt. I think you identified the reason why I've stuck with Pahla B (after you recommended her): She's short and sweet. 20 minutes feels like a treat to myself, not a dreaded additional piece of work after a long day.
I'm trying to incorporate time into my day for friends and family outreach. I find that when I get bogged down in projects/work I drop all other communication. It got so bad that my daughter's teacher reached out and was like, "so you want to schedule a parent-teacher conference or not?" I was breaking my own rules for prioritizing what I consider sacrosanct. So now I get up 30 minutes earlier to check emails and personal mail. And I TRY not to look at work email while doing it. I've been largely successful and am noticeably happier because I feel like I've taken care of myself and others before dipping into the work day.
Thought I'd report back on Do-or-Die December. According to my habit app, Strides, here's how I did:
-I practiced piano 8x in December. Which qualifies as 2x/week. I've increased my goal to 3x/week for 2024 and have bought some new sheet music to keep me interested. (I use the app MusicNotes.)
-I did movement outside my morning walk 14 x in December, which does hit my 3x/week goal. For 2024 I've broken it down a bit more to say I will do free weights 3x/week and do some other movement 3x/week.
-I did my nighttime skin routine 20x in December...a big improvement. I'm keeping it as a daily habit.
-I cooked something healthy 12x in December, so at the 3x/week I had set as a goal. I've set my vegan cookbook challenge for 2024, and have made recipes from week #1's book 2x so far this week.
I think I'm doing pretty well.
I also added a couple of other new habits for 2024...Most notably I want to do a daily 15-minute de-clutter, and I want to be more intentional about checking in with friends via text or phone call. I'm feeling pretty good here on day #4 of the year, anyway 🤷🏻♀️
I am neurotic which keeps me on track with habits or I might die a thousand psychological deaths. I could however add eating a real dinner instead of the glob of cottage cheese I throw in a bowl with tomatoes. I can relate to the night time skin care routine because the bed is calling! good ideas here
Thanks Gail. Yes, it's that's staring in the face of the failure on some of these habits that makes me anxious and makes me want to shed some of them.
I feel you on dinner, I used to grab a starch (rice, potatoes, pasta) and melt some cheese on it to make dinner. When I went vegan (back when there were NO good vegan cheese options) I had to get a little more creative LOL
Great post, Elisa! This year I developed a daily exercise habit of 20-30 minutes of yoga (Yoga with Adrienne videos), 20-30 minutes cardio / strength (Pahla B videos), and 20-30 minutes of walking. The things that have helped me keep these habits are:
1. Activity enjoyment. Finding Yoga for Adrienne and Pahla B videos has helped so much. I find their videos fun. Pahla B talks A LOT, so I turn off the volume and listen to podcasts while I follow along with her movement, which makes it even more fun because then I'm doing 2 things I enjoy at once!
2. Manageable blocks of amount of time. I can usually squeeze in 20-30 minutes chunks.
3. Right time of day, which you also touched on, Elisa. I find that if I do the Pahla B video and Yoga for Adrienne videos in the morning, they go much faster (probably because I'm less tired). Taking a walk in the afternoon helps me feel better after sitting all day.
4. Understanding limits. After numerous injuries that have stopped my exercise progress, I've learned that I have to make modifications in order to exercise daily, or I get injured (e.g. I have a messed up toe, so I do a modified plank. I have a messed elbow, so I use lighter weights).
5. Sharing progress with a friend. Every day after I exercise I text one of my oldest friends to say I did it. It doesn't 'cause a heavy lift on her part. She just gives it a heart, or thumbs up.
6. Understanding what drives me. I love lists, order, and counting -- as evidenced by this comment ( : One of the reasons I like Yoga with Adrienne and Pahla B videos is that they have 30-day series, so as I make my way through (day 1, day, 2, day 3, etc.) I feel like I'm making progress.
7. Having a larger, positive vision. This is really the most important piece. I have people in my family who exercised and people who did not. As they aged, the ones who exercised aged waaaaaay better mentally and physically than the ones who didn't. I want to be able to do as many things as possible when I'm 60, 70, 80, 90. I go back to that positive vision when I don't feel like putting on my sneaks.
Wow, thanks for sharing this detail, Britt, really helpful and actionable. Maybe I should get back to Paula B and do the whole listen-to-something-else thing too. I did like her videos when Jory turned me on to them.
Love this Britt. I think you identified the reason why I've stuck with Pahla B (after you recommended her): She's short and sweet. 20 minutes feels like a treat to myself, not a dreaded additional piece of work after a long day.
I'm trying to incorporate time into my day for friends and family outreach. I find that when I get bogged down in projects/work I drop all other communication. It got so bad that my daughter's teacher reached out and was like, "so you want to schedule a parent-teacher conference or not?" I was breaking my own rules for prioritizing what I consider sacrosanct. So now I get up 30 minutes earlier to check emails and personal mail. And I TRY not to look at work email while doing it. I've been largely successful and am noticeably happier because I feel like I've taken care of myself and others before dipping into the work day.
Thought I'd report back on Do-or-Die December. According to my habit app, Strides, here's how I did:
-I practiced piano 8x in December. Which qualifies as 2x/week. I've increased my goal to 3x/week for 2024 and have bought some new sheet music to keep me interested. (I use the app MusicNotes.)
-I did movement outside my morning walk 14 x in December, which does hit my 3x/week goal. For 2024 I've broken it down a bit more to say I will do free weights 3x/week and do some other movement 3x/week.
-I did my nighttime skin routine 20x in December...a big improvement. I'm keeping it as a daily habit.
-I cooked something healthy 12x in December, so at the 3x/week I had set as a goal. I've set my vegan cookbook challenge for 2024, and have made recipes from week #1's book 2x so far this week.
I think I'm doing pretty well.
I also added a couple of other new habits for 2024...Most notably I want to do a daily 15-minute de-clutter, and I want to be more intentional about checking in with friends via text or phone call. I'm feeling pretty good here on day #4 of the year, anyway 🤷🏻♀️