I'm Back, and Ready to Work!

Me at the Duomo di Milano at night

So in my previous post here: https://runnerdgirl.blogspot.com/2023/05/as-soon-as-im-back-from-italy.html I explained how all of my focus lately had been on stressing out over everything - both professionally and personally near constantly. Seriously, it felt to me like every day was just a constant struggle to survive. Was that being a bit dramatic, absolutely. But it's hard to calm yourself down when everything feels just so wrong and beyond your control. 

And while I know it is never a good idea to "put off until tomorrow what you can do today" that is basically what I had been doing for a while. Well, now it is tomorrow...

Do I think being back from Italy will magically make things better and instantly my motivation, self control and habits will all instantly come back? Of course not. But now I am in a much better mindset to actually put in the hard work necessary to get myself back on track in a few areas of my life. It won't be easy, but I am now mentally able to try. And, I've even come up with a new project to keep me motivated (I'm not quite ready to talk about it yet, but will soon and am pretty excited about this). 

So how am I starting? This morning I started 2 different programs to help me focus on getting back on track. 

The first is the Greatness App. This is a Habit Tracker app that helps you build routines and includes courses and lessons to help with mental and personal development. When you first download the app, it gives you a very detailed quiz to help you identify your goals and then suggests different plans and courses for building a customized plan. The app offers all of the following:

• Fully personalized habit programs, tailored specifically to your goals and lifestyle.
• Easy-to-adopt custom routines, which can be tweaked along the way as you learn to replace bad habits.
• Habit tracker and friendly reminders for daily motivation and tracking progress – so you stay consistent and accountable.
• In-depth expert courses to help you grow any area of your life and make better everyday choices.
• Daily audio coaching from certified cognitive behavior therapists and psychologists that will help you to stay focused.
• Intermittent fasting tracker to help you build healthier eating habits. You can choose a fasting goal and track your progress, all in one convenient place.
• Mental health coaching library – bite-sized audio lessons on managing worry, overcoming procrastination, reducing anxiety, stress, and more.
• Guided video workouts with step-by-step guidance, led by expert trainers.\

To access all of the content, you do have to pay for a subscription, but there is a free version, which I am trying currently. I am not opposed to paying for content if I find it useful, so if I do find that I am benefiting from using this app, I will subscribe, but I want to get a good feel for how to integrate it into my life before shelling out $ for it, especially when some apps make it a challenge to unsubscribe. 

The app recommends that you start out on the Sticky Habits program, so that is where I am starting. This program says that it will help you develop "5 essential habits that will transform the way you start each day." It lasts 15 days. Currently the only habit it has me focusing on drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning, which I pretty much already did, but I am committed to trying the 15 day program as it is. Each of the 5 habits have multiple Steps to Success that gives tips and reasoning behind why each habit is considered essential and how mastering them will start your day out on the path to success. I will post a comprehensive review of the program when I finish the 15 day Stick Habits program. So far, it reminds me a lot of the Tiny Habits concept, which I read the book earlier this year, where you start small and build on to making lasting changes without becoming overwhelmed. 

The other program that I am starting to day is the 75 Medium Challenge. This is a less extreme version of the 75 Hard Challenge, where you follow an extremely strict meal plan (no cheat meals, no alcohol), exercise outdoors 2x a day for 45 minutes, drink a gallon of water, read 10 pages of a nonfiction book each day, take a progress picture each day. If you fail any 1 thing, you start over. Yeah, that is a bit much. So I am doing a scaled down "Medium" version. 

The 75 Medium Challenge consists of the following:

• Eat Well 90% of the time and only drink alcohol on social occasions
• Drink 3 liters of water per day
• Read 10 pages of any book each day
• Exercise for 45 minutes every day
• Take a progress picture

Way more doable. Today is Day 1 for me. I am confident that I can stick to this as it has some room for adaptation while still being pretty strict. It's almost Noon and I have already put in my 45 minutes of exercise (iRock this morning), stuck to a meal plan for breakfast and snack, plus brought for lunch and afternoon snack, and have drank almost half my water for the day. I also took my progress picture first thing this morning, which will never see the light of day, but I took it. Maybe at the end to show how far I have come (hopefully). 

So that is where I am now. Back. Motivated. Ready to get back on track. I will try to post an update each week to see how things are progressing. And I will do full reviews of both the Greatness App and 75 Medium Challenge to help others decide if they would benefit them as well. 

I may have felt like I was starting over this morning, but I got up and gave it my all