21 Days to a Good Habit Revisited

Back on November 29, I discussed the idea of forming new habits and what it took to get something incorporated into your life. Well, in an effort to practice what I preached, I attempted to make a morning run a new facet of my quest for health. When I wrote that post, I had been running in the morning for about five days. I can tell you now that almost a month later, I have run a total of 23 times. I decided to run Monday through Friday and take the weekends off. I don’t need to beat myself up, just form a new habit. I won’t go so far as to say getting up at the butt crack of dawn, dressing in running sweats and stepping out into the brisk almost freezing air is an ingrained ritual yet, but it definitely has made an impression on my thinking, and the way my body feels.

You see, I remember having a job during high school. Every Saturday and Sunday I had to get up at 5:30 am, to get to work by 6. When you’re a teenager that is EARLY; super early. I did it for years, going so far as to keep doing it all through college. Then, when I joined the navy, I kept getting up early, because that’s what you do in the navy, so I equated getting up early with work, responsibilities, unpleasant activities and fatigue.  I knew deep down inside that the real reason I didn’t get up early and exercise was a mental block. It’s not that I couldn’t, it was that I didn’t want to. And for a long time, I let that line of thinking win out. We all do it, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. I’ve always been one to challenge myself, or at least I think I do. Sometimes I notice I’m slipping into a rut, a slump, or some kind of malaise that keeps me from reaching a new level of understanding, ability or thinking. Perhaps I’m just a bit overzealous in the things I choose, but when it came to running in the morning, I thought “If I can conquer that inhibition, it would be a great breakthrough.”

I can’t really say what motivated me more this time around compared to the multiple times in the past I’ve thought about doing a morning run. The important thing is that I recognized the motivation this time around and didn’t let logic or rationalizations get in the way. As the famed sports shoe company Nike is famous for saying in their slogans, “Just do it.” So I just did it. And you know what, I have this feeling that tells me my morning run will become an ingrained habit. It’s a good thing too, because I feel great and think clearer all throughout the day because I make the extra effort. Remember, self improvement is never a waste of time. Apparently, it’s only 21 days away.

Thanks for reading. Comments and questions are welcome.