Phase 2: Uncomfortable

I have officially gone twenty days! Hal says the second 10-day phase is "still uncomfortable and will require discipline and commitment". I'll say. Full disclosure: I did not wake up early enough probably about 1/3 of the time. I'll blame a spattering of morning migraines, staying up too late, and once my phone died mysteriously in the night. Ha!

I did institute the changes I talked about in my last blog post. I wrote a much more motivational, yet realistic and task-oriented affirmation. I still combined the meditation with the visualization, as I think that works best for me. My journaling had more intention as well, as I recalled the events of the day prior, acknowledged things I did well and tried to troubleshoot areas I wanted to improve upon. 

I settled on the routine of starting with the meditation/visualization, affirmation, reading and then journaling. I saved the exercise for last as it was usually longest, and I could still do it even if I was interrupted by my children. 

So, have I started to notice some drastic improvement to my life as a result? 

Yes... and no. I have noticed that on days that I do not perform the SAVERS routine, I do feel more tense and irritable. It's not something major, maybe because I have lived this way for most of my life (hello, type A personality!), but I do notice a difference. Changing the journaling to be more reflective in the sense of examining what I did right or wrong has been a huge help. Ironically, remembering what I did right has been good in reminding me that the day wasn't a total loss in a mess of yelling and hair pulling. The book I'm reading, "Playful Parenting", has been motivating to read in the morning to remind myself of the benefits of being, well, a playful parent.

On the flipside, the days that I skip the morning routine are days that I'm starting off too tired to wake up (or in pain, due to the migraines). Is the irritability really a secondary effect of the sleep deprivation? I think there is definitely a component of that, but I do also really believe that I need to "remind" myself how I want to approach the daily challenges of my life. My baseline is a more pessimistic viewpoint with a smattering of other negative cognitive distortions, so it's helpful to have something more intentional and positive to start my day off. 

Of course, I am still trying to build this habit, and I slip in and out of the routine easily. It's kind of like exercise - I know I feel better after doing it, but just doing it is the hard part! 

Supposedly the next ten-day phase will really cement this into my life. I'll be interested to see if that's the case. Upward and onward.