21 Days

A few years ago, I heard the saying, "21 days (or 3 weeks) to create a habit". It's apparently been said (whether it's completely proven, I know not), that if you do something consecutively for 21 days, it will become a habit (or, that if you can refrain from something for 21 days, you can break a habit.

Upon hearing this, I thought I'd apply it to my own life to help me. I created a little booklet I called, "21 Days to a More Spiritual Me". I really flourished with that booklet and even made some for a few family members who had seen the difference it had made in my life. I had focused mainly on scripture study, prayer, writing in my journal, etc.

I then expanded it to other aspects of my life. I included working out, eating right, waking up on time...and things of that nature. I called it, "21 Days to an All Around Better Me". This format worked really well for me and I thought, "Man, I should write a book about this...". It really was just a thought, nothing I ever really saw coming to fruition.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a book in the church bookstore entitled, "21 Days Closer to Christ". I actually bought it for a sister in law of mine, who really enjoyed it and so I later went back and bought it for myself. It is a great book with an amazing topic. I have to be honest, I've never quite finished it...but, that's part of why I'm blogging.

So, lately I've been feeling the itch to go on one of my 21 Day adventures. It's been quite a while since I've embarked on another journey. When I originally started it and had been successful, I hadn't enjoyed the experience of motherhood yet. I had all the time in the world to focus on ME. Since becoming a mom almost 4 years ago, the 21 day tasks seemed harder to accomplish and even harder to track and record. So here's the idea:

I'm going to blog it...more for me than for any of you, but I have a reason why. I think that for me, knowing that other people possibly could be watching, or seeing or checking up on my progress seems to motivate me a little bit more than just being accountable to myself. Sometimes I give myself too many easy outs---hence, why I feel like I'm in the need of a 21 Day journey in the first place. I need a kick start, and a kick start with an audience of some sort just puts on the pressure a little bit more. And I think that's what I need.

21 Days to an All Around Better Me

SPIRITUAL

*Scripture Study

*Personal Prayer

*Follow "21 Days Closer to Christ" book.

PHYSICAL

*30 minutes minimum of exercise

*Healthy eating w/ food log

MOTHER/WIFE

*Spend 30 minutes playing or doing an activity with Montana without distractions

*Complete daily household chore

*Wake up at 6:30am

When I did this booklet originally, it was a day by day list. Most days lists looked identical, but there were certain days that had special focuses. For example, Monday nights included an item about having Family Home Evening. Sunday's included attending my church meetings prayerfully. Friday/Saturday included picking one of those days to have quality "Couple Time" or "Date Night". Sometimes, depending on babysitters, date night wasn't possible, so we would spend the evening watching a movie and having dessert after putting the kids to bed. I will include those items on those specific days of the week as well.

As I said before, this is more for me to keep public track of my progress...don't feel obligated to watch me everyday for 21 days...most of the stuff you won't even care about, but, just knowing you might be watching, will keep me motivated to keep going.

I will still be blogging otherwise; Montana Mondays and such, so don't think I'm just going to bore you with my stuff. My kids will still be displayed to beautify this blog...

I was going to start today, but since today is pretty much over with, I am going to start tomorrow, July 13th. My 21st day will be August 2nd.

Wish me luck...