7 Tips to Develop Better Habits
Things have been interesting lately for certain. We've been staying put while trying to stay motivated despite most of our plans being canceled for the coming months. It's been good in some ways — forcing us to think out of the box and make our own adventures. Due to the summer running races being canceled I switched to riding my gravel bike in April and challenged myself with 30 consecutive days of riding. Susan upped the ante and ran 30 days straight. This month we are both primarily running. We have a couple fall races still on the calendar — fingers crossed.
I have to confess, I feel like I've put on the COVID 15. Maybe 10lbs., but the stress emanating from the news, social media, and the community have gotten to me. I tend to eat childhood comfort foods when stressed, so lots of pasta and pizza have been consumed of late, and nary a green thing. Grocery shopping feels like a gathering of thieves in a hospital. I don't want to be there.
I listened to the advice of some in the media (social and news) saying it was OK to eat more, but now I don't feel like myself and have work to do to regain (pun?) a healthy weight. Susan works at Whole Foods and has been handling things remarkably well considering having to be out there 5 days a week.
Since quarantine, we've also crushed Bosch, Stranger Things, and BoJack Horseman. We both feel we have Netflix hangovers.
Life can be a continual re-commitment to intentions and objectives — better eating, more movement, less binge eating and watching... In January I wrote an article for RaceCenter magazine about building habits, 7 Tips to Develop Habits for the Long Run. It was written with a backdrop of several races I had planned for the year. It's applicable to any objective so I've been regularly adjusting my plans and adapting to the current climate.
How can we succeed in the coming year with our intentions, objectives, and specific endeavors? Better yet, how can we make changes that will improve our lives over the long term?
5 DIRTY GOOD READS
Cultivating a Deep Life →
Cal Newport creates good stuff. Here he writes on the notion of the deep life, in which you focus with energetic intention on things that really matter, and avoid wasting too much attention on things that don’t. Something I continually need to work on.
And on mindset
...to “know why” is to get at the very core of the deep life mindset. Working backwards from your values to determine your activities creates a lifestyle dramatically more meaningful than working forward from whatever seems appealing in the moment. It’s the difference between resilience and anxiety; satisfaction and distraction.
It's OK to Eat More and Exercise Less During Quarantine →
Stop worrying about weight gain. The pandemic gives you enough to think about.
Use Mindfulness To Bounce Back After A Tough Run →
The thing that actually matters, is now. And, you have the power to harness the potential and opportunity that comes from NOW, the present moment, through a building of presence and awareness that comes directly from developing a mindfulness practice.
8 Tips for Living With Depression →
Eight things you can do to cope with your symptoms and improve your quality of life when dealing with depression.
Spike in Fitness Apps →
Some good has come from the pandemic. Bicycle sales are up, as is the use of apps like Strava. It seems with traditional gyms and other community based environments closed, more people have picked up cycling and running.