Hi and happy new year, Y'all!
Wow, it's already mid/end January, and I realized that my last blogpost is from 14 December... Boy, that's a long time, but I hope you had a good start and - once Omicron is over and done - I wish that we'll have a smooth transition from pandemic to endemic and that we'll return to some kind of normalcy. I thought that would have been the case after the second vaccination but then all the virus mutations appeared out of the blue. Don't get me wrong, lots of things I really appreciate - working from home for example is awesome. But a few days ago I was in a fabric store, and it almost felt frivolous to not shop for groceries or daily necessities but fabric. I probably won't go clubbing every weekend in the future nor will I host large parties or go on excessive shopping sprees. But I'd like to be able to if I want to - I'd like to have that back.
Don't now how about your relationship with new year's resolutions, but my resolution in the last years was always to have no resolutions at all. Never sticked to them and why ruining my year right from the start with the feeling to have failed again? Changes have to happen naturally and when they feel right for you and not when everybody tries to - at least in my opinion. And highly important are concrete and realistic goals to be successful.
Some time ago I noticed two YouTuber in my feed, who fit perfectly in our (admittedly biased) view of typical Americans: morbidly obese due to fast food addiction. They changed their diet to solely plant-based and lost a huge amount of weight. But - like many of you probably also experienced - life happened, there were some bumps along the road, priorities changed, and they regained weight. It takes 50 to 100 days to change a habit, I read somewhere. And therefore, said couple started a 60-day habit changing challenge. That is a sensible period of time to establish a habit for it to feel natural. I liked that approach, thus I printed their chart (oldschool, I know...). But sometimes I need that kind of visualisation and I like to check some boxes manually instead of digitally. Therefore, I keep my used envelopes and recycle them as shopping lists...
But let's get back to the topic. I chose 3 habits I'd like to do on a daily basis (if possible) so that I don't have to think about them because they feel so natural. What did I choose? At first, yoga! Exactly - me who always thought yoga is for esoteric dreamers and considered it more relaxation that sports. But during the holidays I was on my couch a lot and afterwards I felt uncomfortably stiff and inflexible (you could say, I felt old...) and I didn't like that! Thus now I practice yoga for 15 to 20 minutes every morning to wake up and gain some energy for the day. And what should I say? It works! After only a few days I feel more energetic and flexible, although I get up half an hour earlier than usual.
The second habit I picked is French (the language!). I had French in school and during my apprenticeship, but except some vacations in Tunisia and Gouadeloupe I had little to none opportunity to practice and therefore forgot it almost completely. But I found an online course which concentrates on short units of practice (only 3 minutes) but on a daily basis instead of once a week. I can easily integrate that into my day and I enjoy practicing my language skills every day. I even stay longer than planned on some days. And when it's only for 3 minutes - it is still practice and that's okay. Not exactly bad, right?
You might wonder what the third habit may be. Among all my daily beverages has to be one bottle of water without any additions like juice or syrup. My taste buds were trained to sweet since I was a kid and that habit is harder to change than others. Until now I tended to drink not enough when it wasn't aromatized somehow. But I have the impression that this challenge might be a good way. To avoid syrups completely might be a bit harsh, but alternating between plain water and infused water works pretty well so far.
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