As I head into training season, I’m forced to consider some of the bad habits I’ve developed in the past year.
Bad Habit #1: Not taking breaks. I can sit and work for hours and hours … without taking a break. I think it’s a workaholic tendency, but that’s no excuse. This time last year, I was taking breaks once an hour to run up and down the stairs at work, simply because I couldn’t stand sitting still for so long. Now? I can plop down onto my exercise ball at 8:30 a.m. and not move until 7 p.m. OK, so I get up to get coffee and go to the bathroom. But that’s it.
And I wonder why my “easy three-milers,” like the one I ran tonight, are nearly killing me.
Work is important, but it’s not that important. Support calls aren’t going to spiral out of control if I take three minutes here and there for a brisk walk around the office, a quick couple of flights up and down the steps, or even a few crunches on my exercise ball.
I hate taking work breaks. But I need to start taking them.
Bad Habit #2: Eating after 8:00 at night. Or 9:00. Or 10:00. My biggest late-night weaknesses? Cheese and crackers. What? Get rid of the crackers and cheese? Ban them from the house? OK. It won’t be the first time I’ve done that. But now my biggest weakness is bread. There’s nothing quite so nice as a piece of buttered cinnamon toast at 10:30 p.m. before bed, is there?
So that’s another bad habit I need to break. When I eat late, I sleep poorly. When I sleep poorly, I can’t get up in the morning … then I’m late for work, then I’m tired all day, and I’m not very productive. Then I’m really tired when it comes time to work out, or read, or practice piano, or any number of things I want to do after work. It all starts with the cinnamon toast at 10:30 p.m.
Can I start taking short breaks at work, even at this time of year? Can I put a stop to the late-night snacks? Can I start being the healthy runner girl I dream of being? Stay tuned …
Bad Habit #1: It took me a year to figure out that there’s life outside of Drake. I would do the same thing you are doing now because I thought that was expected of me. Thanks to the new friends I met last year, I’ve started taking walks outside. If that doesn’t work for me, then I’ll just go upstairs and chat with coworkers in another group that are great at curing headaches. Taking breaks makes the time go by faster for me.
Bad Habit #2: This habit was extremely hard to break, but the approach that I’ve taken so far is planning. While taking a break around the office, I’m always planning what I’m going to eat for snacks or dinner. I’m a little OCD about planning and organizing. When I get off work, I’ll exercise at the gym and then go home to eat. Usually, I’ll get home around 7 or 8. Things are going to change with the support season schedule. My biggest weakness is eating a handful of Oreos around bedtime. I guess it doesn’t help that I have two packs laying around the house either.
If you attempt to break your bad habits, Nina, I will do the same. I can always come get you when I take my walks around the block, or just send you reminders to take a break every hour or so. However, I’m not throwing away my Oreos so that habit will have to wait for a while.
Once the support schedule is instituted and we’re forced to take lunch breaks, I’m going to start practicing piano at lunch again. It just wasn’t feasible during development season.
And would you believe, I ate some crackers after posting last night’s post? Pathetic!