90 Day Check Up: No Faith in the 21 Day Rule

I've been blogging  about the live like vacation lifestyle since February and can honestly say, I've hit the 90 day slump.

When they say it takes 21 days to establish a habit.........they are wrong!!!!!
Don't believe it.   It takes months!  

If it only took 21 days, we'd solve all the world's problems thousands of years ago!

Here's my assessment and where I think I began to slide.

1.  Still getting enough sleep?  Self  Score  80%
Weekdays I get to bed by 9:30.  One day I had to cram in some paperwork and stayed up until 11:30.  I just had to get it done or I would not have been able to sleep.  Weekends have not been easy.  They day really flies by and who wants to get to sleep early when you could enjoy two or three more late hours......  Maybe my score should be around 70 or 65.

2.  Is my day systematized?  Self Score  90%
I am giving myself a higher score on this because I do like my routines.  The downfall however is that this is still worker bee stuff and i am locked in busyiness and not seeing any forward movement in work or hobbies.  I seem to be locked in some stagnation.  I feel calmer and more easy going, but would like to be more productive.

3.  Knocking out the unproductive  Self Score 70%
I could do more with my time in the evenings.  I waste a lot of time reading on the internet, short fluffy things like Facebook.

4.  Make your work joyful to yourself and others   Self Score 90%
I like my work days.  I feel less overwhelmed.  I work with my members where they are and try to teach them new things.  I would like to be more creative however.  I could offer more services, but I need to plan it out with some type of system that will still allow for individualized attention.

5. Wiggle Room and Taking Control of My Plate Self Score  90%
 I have wiggle room in my day.  I have taken some things off my plate lately.

6. Domino Effect Self Score  95%
I've resumed more healthy habits that have provided a ripple effect in my day, activities.  The sleep factor has been impactful.  I've been more focused on diet/fitness.
(Future topics in the works here)

7. The Principle of Comfort Zone Inertia  Self Score  60%
Yeah, I show no mercy to myself here.  I want to do more, learn more, be more creative, pursue a spiritual vocation outside of my work in health care.   It's still on the back burner.

I want to develop this blog more.  I haven't unveiled the radical health makeover portion that I have hinted about.  I am experimenting on myself, obviously, the work is ongoing.

My average score is 82%.  Is it a reliable, valid score?  Who know.....but it was fun to look back at the last 90 days.  I would say the last 30 were a bit regressive because I wasn't blogging as often as I did early on.  For that reason I should lower  my score.

So, definitely toss out the 21 day rule.  Keep the focus....daily.

More to come.

It Has Not Been a Live Like Vacation Week: Enter Wiggle Room

The last 2 1/2 days didn't go as planned.  I was overbooked, over tired, and had to make a late evening bank run.  There was a sick kid, paper work not done.......and I was wolfing down lunch.  At least it was a salad.

Not all days are relaxing.  Some days are downright irritating.  But you keep pushing forward.  It doesn't last.  I remained focused enough today to get the paperwork finished and clean up the mess on my desk.  The recovery period doesn't take too long if you keep up with the steps.   One day isn't going to throw you off track.

This is where the Principle of Wiggle Room comes in.

If you leave space in your schedule for down time or catch up time, you can prevent the untimely melt downs that make you declare you had a bad day.

You do it for bigger events in your life, so do it for the daily plans.

When you take a long drive you schedule in time for rest stops or slow traffic.  It helps to apply the principle of wiggle room to your routine.

Melt downs can be averted.  Use the Principle of Wiggle Room.

Okay, so I don't sound original.  It's just the same as taking extra breaks during your day to relax or catch your second wind.........  if you're ready for fast balls, the minor upheavals won't sound like major upheavals.

Fight or Flight and Fizzle

How often do you feel the fight or flight reaction?  

Fight or flight describes the the response of an animal that perceives danger.  An animal has one of two choices to make to preserve its life.  It can fight or it can flee.  

Human living today doesn't have the same dangers as animals in the wild, although there are times when we are truly in peril such as a car accident, a weather disaster, medical emergency, etc.  

The body has its own defenses in place to give your  body more oxygen, more strength, and speed when the flight or fight response kicks in.  

The stressors of modern day life still incite the fight or flight response, but it does so too often and the reaction lasts too long.  This response should only be a few minutes and then the body soon relaxes.  

Too much flight or flight will impair the immune system and burn out the endocrine system, not to mention rewire the nervous system to overreact in a very hyperresponsive manner.  Sounds so fatiguing.  

So, a mechanism that is designed for survival becomes so overused, it eventully fizzles and  no longer provides protection.  

Remember the boy who cried wolf so often that no one came to his aid when he was in trouble.  They were so fed up with his false alarms that they ignored him.

We don't want our body's survival system ignoring us and ignoring our needs.  That's why we need to  take control of out plate and get rid of the unproductive.  

One tip I can share here is to look back at the second paragraph about an animal perceiving a danger.  We are not animals.  We have much more to keep track of in our lives besides food, safety, and reproduction.  So, the kicker here is how we perceive things that tend to upset us into a faulty flight or fight reaction.  

We can perceive things differently, that's a given.  

Also, in an extended fight or flight reaction, we tend to do things that hinder our health even more such as overeating, drinking, and getting poor sleep.  And, the cycle continues as the body gets more fatigued.  

Richard O'Connor, PhD, has written a number of very good books on the topic of perpetual stress. 

James L. Wilson, DC, also writes about adrenal fatigue.  

Check out these useful references.  

30 Days Ago I Started a Blog

30 days ago I wrote about my vacation wake up call.

As soon as I came back from a very rare opportunity to visit a warmer climate and have a full week off with nothing on my mind, I resorted back to an insane life.

That's slightly exagerated.  It was not totally insane but as soon as I got off the plane I was back to my hyperactive self.  As soon as the phone began to ring I was unraveling my calm brain trying to bend over backwards for who?  Myself I guess because I am generally an over-pleaser.  Then, I was completely exhausted the next day.

Enough of my complaining.  I saw such a dramatic change between the vacation me and the back to normal life me, I had to reclaim the vacation me and incorporate the vacation me into the everyday life.  I wanted to make daily living more than checking of a to do list and being the family taxi service.

I want to live like vacation.

That does not mean sit on the beach homeschooling my child and working some amazing home business that provide barrels of cash to my bank account.  That could be in the future, but does not sound realistic to me.

Right now I am taking small baby steps at living a less scrambled life that has more calm so I can be a better health care practitioner for my practice members and have enough energy left to be a fun mom and wife.

So, here I already see my big fault here.  I need to be an awesome wife and mother first.  Then, have some left over energy for my private practice.  How did I get so brainwashed?

Time to get un-brain-washed and live like vacation.

Yes, things need to get done.  I have to raise a young boy and help him become a decent grown up.  Yes, we have bills to pay so we are not a burden to others.  Yes, hubby and I need to have a life together that doesn't include work, bills, repairs, errands, babysitting, etc.

So a mind shift took place because I saw the different side of me while I was on vacation.  And I saw that side of me lost suddenly back in the weeds.

So, the mind-set shift continues.
The habits change.  In ways this is becoming a health makeover although I have not noted too much of that since the blog began.

Based on the principle of the domino effect.  Good habits have a ripple effect in multiple areas of life.

Anything that helps you reclaim your energy gives you better mileage.  So, these initial baby-steps are leading to other goals that are more far reaching than getting everyone out the door on time.

So buckle up and enjoy the ride with me.

Live Like Vacation Traits in Action

In my facebook feed I caught an article about Gregg Jarrett's return to the anchor chair after some embarrassing media moments last year. It really is a nice happy ending story to read about when when the news is filled with depressing tragedies.

Understandably, we are only seeing Mr. Jarrett big smile a year later.  We were not privy to the day to day struggles he had to overcome and that he continues to work on.  Living life is a process. He must still go to therapy and meetings.  Every day he is working on his health.

There are some good lessons here we can also relate to:

1.  What you do has a domino effect on others.  For Mr. Jarrett he was impacting his family in a negative manner for a while.  Now, he is going in the other direction.  His boss, Roger Ailes made some sacrifices himself as he stood by his employee and stayed with him during every step of his trials.  His actions, also had a domino effect on Mr. Jarrett, as well.  And Mr. Jarrett very graciously acknowledges Mr. Ailes commitment.  We can make our work joyful to ourselves and others.  Recognize Step #5 here?

2.  Your everyday health and long term health both need good daily habits.  You cannot put your health on autopilot.  You can never take your health for granted.  As a health care practitioner I must stress that the body works very profoundly balancing important metabolic processes.  While things seem to work automatically and your body bounces back pretty well after a splurge at the donut shop, nights drinking with friends, or weeks of staying up until 1 AM, the body will eventually buckle under the stress.  Mr. Jarrett demonstrates this and he is working hard on his daily habits.  Step #2 is here.

I'll let him tell you his side of the story here.