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 1018 Record Keeping Day 990 Fixed Meditation (20 min - incredibly good) Day 864 Writing (3/20 min - incredibly good rewrite and research) Day 404 Rowing (8x10 kbell swings, finally nailed my form) Day 145 Mobility/Stretching (back stretches) —– Eating Day 242 Pantry Check  Day 240 Food Recording — Early to Rise Day 173 Water (Totally forgot!) Day 173 Sleep Recording  (1|2:50|10:45|11:30) Day 144 Bedtime Curfew 81 SUPERHABIT – Ok sleep, good wakeup.

Great Progress Over Multiple Skills My meditation was incredible today. It was smooth, deep, and I’m getting what pragmatic meditation practitioners are talking about with respect to noting the self. 

I finally nailed my kettlebell form - or at least the back issue that I’ve been dealing with. I tend to use my back to pull more than my hips. When I properly hip load it’s a totally different workout. While standing I naturally over extend my lower back, and this problem is exacerbated by swings. As I hip loaded I also concentrated on tilting my hips to neutral by engaging my abs, which prevented over extension. This is really the first time that I’ve ever felt kbell swings as an ab exercise, which I’ve always been puzzled by. Now I know why - Thanks Dr. Kelly Starett! I don’t think I’d even know where to begin to try to fix it if it wasn’t for this guy’s material. I’d be endlessly cycling with swings and back pain.

And writing also went really well, in large part because of James Patterson’s special Master Class. I was able to see the rewrite process as a series of edits, rather mandating perfection from one rewrite. It’s seriously unclenched my writing constipation. I’m recording all of this, not only to send as an example to a fellow writer and friend that I’ve been discussing this technique with, but in order to hone the process.

My bedtime curfew isn’t perfect at all, but I’m ready to call the TinyHabit a superhabit now. It’s a weird one, so I’ll have to see how best to advance it now that I’m used to forcing myself to a bed time.

Over the weekend I’ll have to really ponder what to do next - start a new habit (flossing? making the bed? finance tracking? A general reading habit? Social media marketing?) or advancing skills (waking up and going to bed earlier? Adding another dinner meal to my Sunday Meal Prep? A 14 day mobilization overhaul?).