Month of Good

Day 3: The Chinese Menu

Already I'm falling behind. Already I'm having to make decisions. Last night, for instance, I had an appointment at 6:00. Then I needed to drop off rent. This got me home by 7:30, and I wanted to go to the 8:00 yoga class. Yoga is 90 minutes, and with walking to/from class, is a 2-hour commitment. This gets me home by 9:45, with just enough time to get my stuff ready for bed and retire for the night.

So, my choice was: Yoga OR make dinner/blog/clean up/etc.

I chose the latter, and moved my yoga attendance to Sunday. This was kind of a bummer because last night's class was a "relax and restore" class, and Sunday's class is regular ol' Hatha class.

But what I consider a victory was the mindfulness in which I made the decision. I said on my Twitter that it was like a Chinese menu: one from column A or two from column B, but I can't have the whole menu. The fact I even had a menu is progress. It's nice to know what I would like to accomplish and be able to make a decision, not just kind of do what's in front of me because it's easy. Did I feel bad about not going to yoga? Disappointed, yes. A failure, no.

Mmm... Chinese food. Now I want sweet and sour tofu...

This is what I'm up against.

This bounty is right across from my desk. The only saving grace is 
there are no Thin Mints.

Day Two

I did pretty darn well yesterday. Made dinner, did yoga (AND went for a walk, extra-double-bonus-score), picked up, blogged, practiced accordion, etc., etc., etc. Did not get to bed on time. I knew that would be the most difficult thing to accomplish, and it looks like I'm going to fail tonight as well. I was invited to karaoke, and I dearly love me the karaoke.

I'm sitting in a room filled with deep-fried snacks, after attending a meeting in a room filled with freshly baked cookies, after being at my desk across from a bounty of treats. My stomach is growling. I didn't plan correctly today.

Headed home in a few minutes to make dinner and practice accordion, as well as get my things together for tomorrow morning.

This is going to be hard.

Day One: What is this?

If you haven't read What is the Month of Good, I can summarize it here: I try to be really, really good for one month. I decide what "good" means. I even have a list. At the end of the month, I identify the important stuff and get rid of the rest.

I know it's going to be hard. It's designed to be hard... but not impossible. Everything I put on the list is doable and can be done now; it's the number of tasks that makes this so daunting.

But what if it's actually possible? What if mindful organization is all that's missing, and I can be the happy, healthy, energetic and thoughtful person I want to be? If that is truly the case, this is the month I'm going to find out.

I started this blog, my Month of Good YouTube channel, and my Twitter feed to help document the process and, frankly, to keep me honest. If someone - anyone - is watching, that's motivation to keep going. Otherwise, those leftover Cadbury Mini Eggs sitting next to me on the table will lure me right out of the Month of Good and into the Month of Continuing to Feel Bad About Myself and Not Doing Anything About It.

I expect to fail daily. But I expect to learn from my failures. Every day I'll need to make decisions like, "Update the blog or get those eight hours of sleep?" Right now, that decision is a no-brainer: Update blog! But what if I find when I get those eight hours of sleep, I'm not crashing at 2:00 like I do now? Maybe my knee-jerk decision will change. I also expect the hardest things to accomplish will be the most rewarding. I have found exercise to be almost a cure-all for me; makes me feel better about myself, more energetic, and just generally in a better mood. Yet, I continue to let that slide. Not this month.

This blog will be updated daily, and the YouTube channel at least three times a week. I'd love to hear from you, and if you're starting your own Month of Good let me know; it would be great to have company.

The night before...

It's the night before my Month of Good starts. We had Del Taco and finished off the Cadbury Mini Eggs (goodbye until next year, you wonderful, crunchy, sugary, creamy things you), and I'm throwing together this blog.

Normally I'm extraordinarily anal about how these types of things look, but part of Month of Good is learning to let go. So while I'm sure I could spend hours trying to make this thing look gorgeous, I'd rather spend time figuring out what I'm going to say to my stepson's class tomorrow. I was invited to speak about what I do for a living (how flattering is that?!), and I haven't really prepared anything as of yet. Oof.

I've already posted a video on my YouTube channel, Month of Good, which documents just one of the things I was doing to prepare for this month. And it features a very furry, very special guest.

More tomorrow as I start my very own Month of Good.

Wish me luck.