Change is stinking hard!  Bad habits call to me like a warm bed on a snowy, cloudy day.  They’re sooo comforting and familiar.  Trying to start new habits feels a lot like being out in a desert wasteland where I am totally unprotected and unfamiliar with everything that surrounds me.  That is precisely why I have turned to creating situations of “do or die”, the inciting incident, in which I could only exit out the other side.

One of my worst habits happens around 3pm every day.  I come downstairs from having spent 20 mins up in the twins’ room, trying to get them to nap, and listening to the soothing sounds of serene ocean, and I am zapped.  I make the mistake of sitting down “just for a minute” and I never really recover.  I try drinking more coffee and snacking to revive my senses and both usually make me feel worse.  Friends of mine have called this the “witching hour”, between 3 and 6pm.  It use to happen even when I was teaching full-time, but in a slightly different capacity.

It is the time of day when everything seems to turn back into a pumpkin.  This is the part of my day my dearest husband witnesses when he arrives home.  I could have had THE most productive day ever – ran all of my errands, organized closets, volunteered, kept up with laundry and dishes and toy pick-up, worked out, ate healthy – but then the clock strikes 3…dun dun duuuunnn.  What my dear husband sees, as he trips over the back packs and miniature shoes by the back door is – toys all over, laundry on the dining room table, dinner-prep pots and pans strewn all over the counters, and a disheveled and exhausted looking wife who is already in some stage of depression because she is keenly aware that all of the work she did, with house and diet, are now a distance memory.  Whew!  The witching hour.  When I live out the classic Princess story in reverse.  I go from the glowing Princess who kisses the Prince good-bye every morning and floats throughout her day, to the one dressed in rags, scrubbing floors with some sort of dried on something on my shirt that I wear in place of my diamonds every evening.

But these are my perceptions.  Dear husband never says a thing.  He comes home, steps over the shoes, around the backpacks, pushes aside the dishes on the counter to make room for Tupperware from lunch and leans in for a kiss as he rolls up his sleeves to unload the dishwasher.  I’m a lucky Princess, if only I let myself feel like one.

So the question remains, if I have identified my weak point why don’t I just do something about it?  Good question.  And, I don’t know.  That’s why I am here.  It is not for a lack of knowledge about how to set and achieve goals, or how to change bad habits, or have a healthier lifestyle.  The knowledge is there.  But the thing many of those articles, quotes and self-help books don’t directly mention is all of the knowledge is useless if you don’t use it.  Honestly, my husband and kids do a better job following my advice than I do.

Today I will think Princess-like thoughts.  I will stave off the witch inside with the following potion:

Intentional smiling (silly, but try it)

Music (to drown out the nay-saying voices)

Movement (no sitting at 3pm – the witching hour is going to have catch me if she wants me)

I’ll let you know how the potion works.  Keeping it light, keeping it simple, keeping it happy.

And the news on the fitness front is I walked 40 mins and met my 5 mile goal on Monday, I walked 4.45 miles yesterday and I was invited by friends to walk 6 miles tomorrow.  And yes, 6 miles makes me a little nervous right now, but I’m all in.  Creating my inciting life meant telling my friends about it, and good friends help you write a great story.