Lately I’ve been watching a lot of health and fitness style YouTube creators. Some of them inspire me, while others leave me cringing as I wonder if they are starving themselves to look the way they do. One of the things that almost all of them do recommend is making something a habit. One of the creators I just found did a 6 week challenge to become the best version of herself and that got me thinking. Can I build a habit in 6 weeks? So, follow along as I begin my journey of building a habit.
Where to Begin
There are so many good habits to build; I honestly do not know where to begin. Do I try and build a self care habit? Or, maybe a healthy habit. I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to take vitamins regularly. What about drinking enough water, or working out? I’m a blogger who is trying to become an author. Perhaps I make writing for a certain length of time every day a habit? There are work related habits that I could start building. The options really are limitless.
Not Too Many
The goal is to not try and build too many habits at once. That is a recipe for failure with me. I should know; I’ve tried many times. The other thing that I need to keep in mind is my crazy work schedule. Right now I work a lot of night shifts, which means that my days won’t look like a typical day. Waking up at 6AM will not be a habit I’ll be building. Most of the week that’s my bedtime. So, whatever habit I pick, it needs to be realistic for where I am right now in my life. Perhaps one day, when I’m no longer doing night shifts, I can try to build some regular waking up and going to bed schedules.
Picking a Habit
Right now, for where I’m at in my life, I think the best habit that I can try and tackle for the next 6 weeks is drinking more water. I can drink water over my night shifts, and have some right when I wake up. Choosing water instead of pop or other sugary drinks to go with my meals is another way I can increase my water intake. I will actually tie that with one other habit I would like to work on. Less junk food. Often on my night shifts I find myself eating candy or chocolate, or anything else that is high in sugar. I can do better. Now, I know I still have a lot of candies and chocolates and other sweets from Christmas that I’m working through. No, I didn’t quickly eat them all before this challenge started. I just need to limit them. No more eating an entire box of chocolates in one sitting. So I will be building a habit of drinking more water.
My Plan for Building a Habit
I have an app with a water tracker on it. My goal, for the next 6 weeks, will be to make the goal that the app sets for me every day for 6 weeks. I know I will need to be creative with drinking water in order to make that goal. Perhaps I’ll buy some lemons or oranges or other fruits to naturally flavour my water. I will continue to have my green drink, which is another way to have water, as well as an energy fizz during my night shifts to keep me awake instead of chocolates and candies. To be clear on what counts as drinking water, for me. Everything that I just mentioned will, as well as just drinking water (obviously) and tea. I won’t count coffee, juices, sports drinks, or anything else. Tea counts because I don’t add anything to my teas.
Accountability
I’m not sure if I want to make the next 5 weeks a check in every Monday, as I do already have two days of the week which are themed. However, maybe you guys like knowing what to expect when you are reading a blog. I will post to my social media accounts daily to show my progress on building a habit. Perhaps I will take progress photos, but I’ll see what happens with that. Let me know what you guys think. This will be separate from Fitness Fridays, but I suppose in a way it does tie in with it. Who knows; perhaps drinking more water will help me out with Fitness Fridays in the workout department.
Do You Want to Build a Habit?
Why don’t we do this together? It’s a lot more fun than doing it on our own. Pick a habit that you want to build over the next 6 weeks and comment what it is either here in the blog or on social media. It will be great to see what changes you want to make in your life. Perhaps you want to quit smoking or drinking. Maybe it’s something as simple as making your bed every day. Maybe you want to work on self care, or loving yourself. Or, maybe you want to take steps at beating depression and anxiety. I really want to encourage you all to pick one thing you want to work on for the next 6 weeks. We start today, January 15, 2024. In fact, if you have Instagram, I would love for you to post daily to your story. Use #lifewithstephaniechallenge and we can all do this together and encourage each other.
Are You In?
I hope you are. One of the things I would love to see happen is a community built around this blog. As it builds, I would love to add a community page to my blog where you guys can post and comment on each other’s posts. I want to do Instagram lives where we can do some sort of activity together. Wouldn’t it be fun to bake together or workout together? For those who are only on Facebook, I would love to start a Facebook group where we can chat, share and encourage each other. If all of this sounds like something you would like to join in on, follow me on social media, subscribe to the blog, and let others know about it too. Let’s build something special together. After all, we know that anything can happen if we try.
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