#srhi

Day 1119 Record Keeping Day 1091 Fixed Meditation (DID NOT DO) Day 965 Writing (DID NOT DO) Day 505 Rowing (walked, about 2 hours) Day 246 Mobility/Stretching (DID NOT DO) — Eating (from yesterday) Day 36 Sunday Meal Prep 80 SUPERHABIT --- Early to Rise Day 274 Sleep Recording  (1|9:30|11) Day 245 Bedtime Curfew Day 83 Wakeup Alarm – Good sleep, good wakeup. Superhabit for Meal Prep Sunday - no longer recording SRHI. Return from Self Care Vacation About two weeks ago I posted how I really needed a break. A combination of just horrible nights of sleep and emotional turbulence. The break was initially supposed to only last a week and then I was going to see. After the first week I realized that I was just starting to get the hang of relaxing. 

Because, for me, relaxation has to be structured. If I melt in my couch and surf the internet I end up not doing anything, which is actually a lot less relaxing and positively boosting then sticking a schedule where I get out, go for a walk, do something creative, learn something, etc. And even then it was hard.

The first thing I realized is that I need to nail my sleep down. The other thing is that I need to get outside and brighten my mood to start the day off right. And those are the two things I’ll focus on implementing next. 

I don’t have the scale I need to judge sleep experiments nailed down quite yet. And, of course today is the day when guests are coming back AND I’m traveling to the States for two weeks at the end of the week. This obviously isn’t the best time to formalize both new habits, nor push the ones I have. 

While it seems that things are really scattered, I have, in the past week, continued to meditate, to get out and walk, set my wakeup alarm, and gone to sleep earlier. I automatically completed two meal prep sundays, such that it is now a superhabit. And I successfully completed my Gotham writing course! These are Good Things.

Day 1097 Record Keeping Weekend Habits — Eating Day 33 Meal Prep Sunday 80 -- Early to Rise Day 252 Sleep Recording  (3|11:30|12:15) Day 223 Bedtime Curfew Day 61 Wakeup Alarm – Great sleep, great wakeup. Cycling through immense exhaustion and depletion for the week. Last several days have been filled with rapid cycles of depression and anxiety. Been napping and have been quite tired despite having a record streak of amazing sleep.

How Long Does It Take to Form a Once-A-Week Habit? Meal Prep Sunday logged in at an 80 on the SRHI! But this isn’t just about Meal Prep - it’s about gauging something no one seems to talk about: How long does it take to form a solid once-a-week habit?

There are several such habits I’ve thought about doing. A body metrics habit to record body recomposition. A regular Instagram (or other social media marketing) day. A weekend relaxation ritual. A refeed day.  A weekly grocery trip to stock up on healthy snacks and veggies. Anddd, I seem to not be remembering all the ones I had listed out on some random text document, but you get the point. There are just some behaviors that, at least on the surface, are more optimal when done in a more spread out fashion than the typical routine.

Day 1083 Record Keeping Weekend Habits —– Eating Day 31 Sunday Meal Prep 74 — Early to Rise Day 238 Sleep Recording  (12:50|(5-9:30)|1:30) Day 209 Bedtime Curfew Day 47 Wakeup Alarm – Horrible sleep, horrible wakeup. 

Reflections on Sleep Cycle

It’s interesting taking  notice when I wake up at nights and can’t get back to sleep. Last night I went to sleep at 1 AM and woke up at 5 AM. I couldn’t sleep for 4 hours, and then I slept for 4 more hours, getting exactly 8 hours. 

But what usually happens is that I start to get really depressed as I see failing to get up early and get a good, solid, stable night’s rest as a reflection of a failed character. When I inevitably get up late, I see myself as lazy, even if I now know that I’m not oversleeping (score one for the quantified self people!).  I also tend to not have any protocols for getting back to sleep - or waking up and doing work even though my mind is going a million miles a second (despite meditating, etc). 

While I still maintain that an ideal sleep is what’s normal - going to bed at a decent time and waking up in the morning, there are times where that’s simply not possible. I felt like I nailed sleep back in the States, but jet lag has caused this weird biphasic sleep pattern. As I travel, that may well be inevitable. If it is inevitable (even if only at certain intervals) than it should be taken advantage of, instead of raged against.