The Negative Creep Versus the Army of Habits

Look. It's a bright day, sun streaming through the window in our office. (And the plants are doing pretty darn good considering it's December!) It's been a productive day so far. No disasters or even small dramas. Everything is in the wins column. 

Yay! 

Right.

Fuck off. 

Yeah, that's what I said. That's the mood I'm in. Another fantastic no-reason-for-this-crap mood swing!

Here's a good idea: write a post for a blog called Planned Positivity while you feel like a negative creep.

Actually, that's a bloody great idea. Know why? BECAUSE DAYS LIKE TODAY ARE WHAT IT'S ABOUT. 

I don't have a magical system that allows people to avoid bad days. I have a system that gets you through them with a minimum of trauma and fuss. For instance, left to my own devices I would be eating a bag of Doritos and a can of Monster for lunch. But instead I'm having chick pea curry which has the benefits of actual nutritional value and not feeling ill afterwards. How did I achieve this lunch miracle? Will power? 

Heck no. I made two weeks worth of lunches last weekend and put them in the freezer. Every day, I take one out of my fridge and bring it to work. Lunch decisions removed. 

After work, I will probably feel like going home to lie around and watch reruns of Hannibal. (Who doesn't love a dramatic Gothic romance?)

image "liberated" from https://bloody-disgusting.com/

 

But I have an appointment with my trainer which is a promise I made. I'm not going to weasel out.

When I get done training, I will feel a thousand times better than I do right this second. (For details, see my last post) I won't want to go to the gym. But it's my habit, and so I will go. And I will reap the benefits. 

The act of going home triggers its own set of habits. I put my coat and shoes away, wash and sanitize my hands (because pandemic, y'all!), followed by my first habit: make dinner. With proper food, not junk. While I eat I review the day's bullet journal entries and see if there's anything unusual I need to do. I read for fifteen minutes by which time I'm done with dinner. 

Every night after dinner, without fail, I play bass. I do it very badly, but I still do it. Because one day I won't be terrible. 

When I put my bass back in its place, I pick up a paint brush and do some art. 

Art leads to needlework. You've seen the quilt that's my work in progress. 

At nine o'clock, I turn off the TV which I usually put on for background noise while I'm working on other things. It's creative writing time and there are no distractions from that. I don't have a set amount of time or a number of words I have to meet. I just have to write something and keep looking at the story for at least 15 minutes. Some days my brain goes off, and some days I struggle to write a paragraph. No matter. It's the process that counts. That is the process, no exceptions. 

Holiday? I might do the same set of habits in the morning instead of at night. 

I'm still going to do it. 

Small progress every day. Systems that support the progress so you can do it even if you're up against yourself. When you have positive habits, you don't need to make decisions. You just follow your routine and good things happen naturally.