On Lent & Waking Up Early
So, I successfully completed my Lenten vow to not drink alcohol during the week. Go me! It was hard occasionally - I had a few networking happy hours during that time and had to explain why I was only drinking seltzer water. And there were definitely things that involved drinking that I would have liked to do, but didn't. But overall it wasn't too bad, and I was even thinking that I might want to continue cutting out weeknight drinking even once Lent was over. Making the occasional exception for a weeknight happy hour or other social get together.
I was thinking it, but I hadn't yet decided to implement it. Until this morning, that is. I had the day off yesterday and spent it exercising, reading, cleaning, and practicing Spanish. I felt very productive! (And the house looks really good!) To reward myself, I had a glass of bourbon while I finished reading Radiance by Cat Valente. Then I had another glass. Then I had wine with dinner. And then this morning when my alarm went off I didn't want to get up. So I turned it off and set a later alarm, which I did get up for.
Not the biggest of deals, but I'm annoyed at myself. I've gotten into the good habit of waking up at 6am and going to the gym each morning. Not only does that help me get my day started right, but I feel more energized and accomplished every day that I do it. So willfully sleeping through the alarm and not going to the gym cause I'd had one too many last night kinda sucked. And it really did illustrate that cutting out drinking during the week VASTLY improves my sleep. Like, by a lot.
So. Looks like I am going to try to cut out weeknight drinking fairly permanently. Again, I'll make exceptions for social stuff (like tonight, we're going to dinner and a movie with a group of friends, I'll have a drink) but will refrain every other night. I'm trying to think up a little reward or incentive for myself. During Lent I drew stars on the calendar for each day I was successful, and I'll probably keep doing that. But I wonder if I can, like, calculate the money I save and set that aside for something fun? Or just assign an arbitrary value (like $2) for each night and then put that in a rainy day account? I don't know. If anyone has ideas for little incentives, send them my way!
But seriously, my house looks so good right now. I kind of wish I had a free day every week to do stuff like that. Not a weekend, that's for fun stuff! (Ok, also chores.) But like, a day in the middle of the week where I could just double down and get shit done. One can dream...
This entry is crossposted from Dreamwidth. You can comment there or here.
I was thinking it, but I hadn't yet decided to implement it. Until this morning, that is. I had the day off yesterday and spent it exercising, reading, cleaning, and practicing Spanish. I felt very productive! (And the house looks really good!) To reward myself, I had a glass of bourbon while I finished reading Radiance by Cat Valente. Then I had another glass. Then I had wine with dinner. And then this morning when my alarm went off I didn't want to get up. So I turned it off and set a later alarm, which I did get up for.
Not the biggest of deals, but I'm annoyed at myself. I've gotten into the good habit of waking up at 6am and going to the gym each morning. Not only does that help me get my day started right, but I feel more energized and accomplished every day that I do it. So willfully sleeping through the alarm and not going to the gym cause I'd had one too many last night kinda sucked. And it really did illustrate that cutting out drinking during the week VASTLY improves my sleep. Like, by a lot.
So. Looks like I am going to try to cut out weeknight drinking fairly permanently. Again, I'll make exceptions for social stuff (like tonight, we're going to dinner and a movie with a group of friends, I'll have a drink) but will refrain every other night. I'm trying to think up a little reward or incentive for myself. During Lent I drew stars on the calendar for each day I was successful, and I'll probably keep doing that. But I wonder if I can, like, calculate the money I save and set that aside for something fun? Or just assign an arbitrary value (like $2) for each night and then put that in a rainy day account? I don't know. If anyone has ideas for little incentives, send them my way!
But seriously, my house looks so good right now. I kind of wish I had a free day every week to do stuff like that. Not a weekend, that's for fun stuff! (Ok, also chores.) But like, a day in the middle of the week where I could just double down and get shit done. One can dream...
This entry is crossposted from Dreamwidth. You can comment there or here.