I was on autopilot. Living my life one bad habit after the other. Everyone is guilty of this from time to time. We get tired, fall into ruts, and go about our days going through the same monotonous routines over and over again. Our brains just “shut off” and we sometimes create bad habits without even realizing it.
My daughter came home and cried to me one day saying that she was having a lot of really bad days lately. I was also having a lot of really bad days lately. Was she having bad days because I was having bad days? Was it just a coincidence? Were we creating our own bad days? Either way, there we were, having too many bad days.
So we decided to make a change.
We needed to become fully aware of our bad habits that we were allowing ourselves to “autopilot” through each day. Before we decided to “hit the reset button,” our days sort of went like this:
Wake up.
Check phone, scroll through social media, check emails.
Get up and get dressed.
Make coffee and grab breakfast on the go. Donuts, Poptarts…heck even cookies on some days.
Run out the door because we’re almost late.
Go to school and work.
Drink sodas and snack on candy all day.
Come home and immediately plop on the couch to scroll social media, while the kid’s on Youtube.
Continue…continue…continue.
Go grab food because who feels like cooking?
Eat on the couch while watching TV.
Continue to watch TV…continue to watch TV.
Shower.
Go to bed.
Repeat the next day.
And we were wondering why we started to have so many really bad days. HELLO! This is a perfect bad day recipe. We were on a trajectory that would clearly lead us into a downward spiral. We both decided it was time to “hit the reset button” and start creating good habits again.
So now our days go something like this:
Wake up 15 minutes earlier than usual.
Make coffee.
Read my daily devotional, pray, journal, and watch a short motivational video.
Take my time getting dressed. When you look good, you feel good.
Fix breakfast and eat at home while we talk about how we’re going to have such a great day. Eggs, fruit, oatmeal…healthy choices.
Make a few daily goals.
Do some serious jamming out to our favorite songs on the way to school and work.
Drink tons of water all day.
Come home and immediately go outside to run, exercise, and play.
Do homework.
Cook a fabulous meal while listening to our favorite tunes…and break out some super cool dance moves in the kitchen.
Eat at the dinner table together and talk about the best and worst parts of our day.
Read a book or play a board game.
Look back on our great day and list all the things we are thankful for.
Go to bed.
Repeat the next day.
A major factor that allowed us to start creating good habits was to eliminate screen time. The amount of time we were in front of the TV, iPad, or cell phone was atrocious. Once we took out the common denominator of our bad habits, we were able to fill our time with good habits. This will hopefully set us on the track to having more really good days. Ultimately, it’s the little things we do each day that sets us on a path. We have the choice to choose which path we want to be on. Choose good habits and your trajectory will lead you to all things good.
