The last time I wrote, I was gung-ho about my new 500 word a day challenge. I managed that for a good three weeks to a month, writing usually more like 750 words than 500. And before that, I was gushing about my new healthy eating and cooking craze, and the wonderful habit I'd started.
Well that's all well and good, but today I'm writing about something we all have sometimes: a setback.
I had surgery a couple of weeks ago, and while I'm well on the mend now and will have no long term side-effects, it was still a scary experience with some repercussions. I spent nearly a week just in bed, and am still having trouble doing regular things without getting out of breath. It will be another few weeks at least before I can be really active again (like running and crunches and fast dancing).
Although the physical limitations from surgery are frustrating, they're not the real setback.
The real setback is an interruption to the good habits I've learned, habits that are very hard to start, but easy to continue. After two weeks of doing nearly nothing, the thought of starting over with cooking regularly, heating healthy, keeping up with work and chores, and writing daily, is daunting. It feels like a lot.
So I'm back to square one, which is disheartening.
But it's also, in a way, not that bad. I've been here before. Not that long ago in fact. And in two short months I started a couple of new habits, lost weight, and felt healthier and more productive than ever.
It's easy when faced with these setbacks to give up. To think, "This is a sign that I shouldn't be doing these things." Or even just give in to tiredness and frustration for days or weeks or months at a time, and slowly forget about the wonderful feeling of enacting a change in your life.
But that's the real setback. It isn't the interruption, it's letting the interruption dictate what comes next. Just because I stopped writing for ten days doesn't mean I can't start writing today, and do it for years to come! Just because I stopped paying attention to food or cooking doesn't mean I can't pay attention today, and make a change.
Today I ate a salad for lunch, and walked outside for a little while. Tonight, I will clean my kitchen, and maybe cook something easy, like pasta. I don't have to change everything right away, and get back to where I was before surgery immediately. That will be even more disheartening because I will fail. I don't have the energy, or the time, to change all at once.
So it's back to baby steps, and patience. But who knows, at the rate I was going, I could be back to healthy eating, writing regularly, and who knows what else just by summertime! When everyone else has long forgotten their new years resolutions, I'll be on my third or fourth new habit, each one easier than the last.
When you think of setbacks as exciting new beginnings, they're not all that bad.
