Taking on New Adventures

Changing habits in life is not always easy. From working out consistently to eating healthier and everything in between, I know I’ve made efforts over the years, often repeating some of the same ideas when one doesn’t work. Let’s be frank, though, many of those habits I try to form just don’t click. I refuse to say “They fail” because it’s really not that simple.

Recently, I have been on a journey internally to try and do what I can, when I can, to create a little bit healthier lifestyle. That includes slowing things down and not trying to be in the thick of every event held in the city. It’s something Chuck and I have been discussing a lot in the last few months.

Overall, we are both trying to do things that create a healthier balance in our lives. Our jobs can often consume our lives but we made a point this year to try and take steps back in that arena to allow ourselves the flexibility and time to do other things outside of work on any given day. These are the habits that are the hardest to change, in my opinion, since we both have worked in environments that demand our time outside of the normal workday.

We also have taken some steps back from doing everything we are invited to, which includes spending time with dear friends. This isn’t always easy, but we need to do things for ourselves and there are times that we have to make a choice between the two.

I’ve blogged about this before but New Orleans offers events nearly every weekend of the year and often a few nights during each week as well. We could easily get involved in all, or almost all, of those events. And in years past, we tried. We realized a few months ago that we were just tired from trying to be involved in everything. Now, we make a point to talk about the events and figure out which ones we really want to do. This allows us to enjoy the ones we do more but also, we have less guilt and FOMO on the ones we decide not to get involved in.

Thanks to a recent surgery on my arm for skin cancer (yes, a fourth one!), I have had to take a step back from heavy duty workouts and figure out a way to heal not just my arm, but my mind in a way. So instead of scheduling these grueling workouts that lead to 2 or 3 days of rest because my aging body just can’t handle them, I’ve tried to figure out other ways to burn some calories which motivates me to eat healthier.

However, I am trying to do something a bit more important than the “calories in/calories out” mantra that so many trainers and health coaches rely on. I’m working on relaxing a bit more, taking a moment to enjoy the fresh air on my patio every morning, and getting outside more.

Changing habits takes time, and the biggest habit I am working on changing is going from a mentality of having to be involved in everything and move all the time. I’m working on spending more time relaxing on my patio with a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evenings, taking a walk around the block just to get the body moving without feeling like I have to be sweating from head to toe and settling down to a book or just a great article rather than watching yet another episode of a drama series I’ve seen 3 or 4 times.

Writing it down makes it real, too. I find that writing down my goals and my desires keeps me accountable. So that’s what this is. An accountability journey that will live on the internet forever.

I do see some progress. And with each little baby step forward to creating a better balance for my life, the habits I’m working on forming will be easier to manage as the days and weeks move on.

When I think of work/life balance, it’s important that the life part of it comes first. That is something that I’m really adjusting to in 2022 and I hope can continue to look at and focus on throughout the coming years.