Posted by Trish Milburn Oct 12 2010, 7:56 am in bad habits, exercise, food, Trish Milburn
I’ve discovered over time that I may always be seeking balance among all the things that need to be done on a daily or weekly basis. This becomes more and more evident to me the closer I get to a book deadline. Early in the process of writing a book, I’m fairly good at dividing my time between writing, household tasks, errands, exercise and making healthy choices. That balance deteriorates as a deadline looms. Even knowing this, I will sit and write to the exclusion of exercise and make ever more poor food choices. After all, a bowl of double brownie ice cream makes me feel better about the book I’m sure really and truly sucks. (And my friend Mary assures me it doesn’t and that I always feel this same way at about this point in writing a new book.) I’m thinking about this issue now because I’m getting close to the end of a first draft. I thought about it this morning at 3 a.m. when I woke up and remembered I’d forgotten to post a blog here last night.
I always have the best of intentions when I start a book. I print out blank calendars and map out how many pages I need to write each day to meet my deadline. But, it always seems that something happens to derail my well-crafted plan and I end up doing some cramming writing days — you know, like you had to cram for tests in school. This is no one’s fault, just the way life rolls with unexpected bumps in the road. I just need to learn to deal better with those bumps, those interruptions to my routine.
While thinking about this in the wee hours this morning, I realized something else about myself. While I’m pretty good at multitasking, I also have binge tendencies. I’m not talking about binge eating though. It’s more like these binge writing sessions. I sometimes will often do it with house cleaning, especially after I’ve turned in a book. I’ve let things go a bit while writing the book, and I spend one or two entire days doing nothing but cleaning my house top to bottom. True, it looks good when I’m done, but it would be so much easier to just stick to a daily cleaning schedule, doing a little bit every day.
Like we’ve talked about so often here at Healthy Writer, there’s power in a new day. There’s no need in beating myself up about the poor choices of the past, but I need to resolve to do better today, and tomorrow, and the next day. So that’s what I resolve on this Tuesday — Today I will be better at balancing my day than I was yesterday.
Do you struggle with balance? Is it worse when you’re approaching a writing deadline or deadline for work? Any helpful tips?
Posted by Trish Milburn Sep 14 2010, 12:01 am in bad habits, health tips, Trish Milburn
Over this past weekend, there was understandably a lot of coverage of the 9/11 anniversary. I read articles and personal accounts and teared up more than once. It also hit me that it’s been 9 years since that awful day. I was 31 then, and this year was the big 40. It doesn’t seem like [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Sep 10 2010, 5:45 am in bad habits, confidence, positive thinking, Rachel Graves
The rifle felt heavy in my arms. Not just because of the weight of steel and wood, but because of the weight of my fear. A thing designed to hurt, it could hurt me. I feared the recoil, the snap back of the action, the loud noise, that the explosion would go horribly, irreversibly wrong. [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Jun 11 2010, 10:33 am in bad habits, brain, confidence, energy, multitasking, positive thinking, process, progress, Rachel Graves, small changes, stress, support
The characters in my latest work in progress are behaving badly. They started out just fine: two tough as nails cops, one from homicide, one from robbery. They loved each other but it turned to hate, and now the death of her partner means they had to work together. They fight a lot, snipping at [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves May 14 2010, 10:21 am in bad habits, multitasking, Rachel Graves
Earlier this week I sat at a wide boardroom table making small talk with a woman I didn’t know. She’s going to become a co-worker, and maybe a friend, but in those first getting-to-know-you minutes I didn’t have anything to say. She bravely took up the conversational mantel and asked if I watched Lost. No, [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves May 7 2010, 10:00 am in bad habits, confidence, exercise, Expectations, fear, fitness, food, Rachel Graves, running, small changes, walking, weight loss
My father’s feet turned to clay when I was ten years old. Before then, he stood as a giant who protected me from everything. At 6’3” and 250 pounds, Dad held us up so we could reach the stars. But the year I turned ten Dad was diagnosed with diabetes. My invincible hero turned into [...]
Posted by Michelle Butler Apr 12 2010, 5:00 am in bad habits, clothing, Emotional Eating, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays
This past Tuesday night, I had a bad weigh in at Weight Watchers as I gained 2.4 pounds. While I try to approach the scale with zero expectations to prevent some kind of emotional boomerang, I do not always succeed. As I wait in line for my turn to get weighed, I can always come [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Mar 19 2010, 12:30 pm in bad habits, confidence, massage, positive thinking, process, Rachel Graves, small changes, stress
Let’s talk about you and meLet’s talk about all the good thingsand the bad things that may beLet’s talk about it– Salt-n-Pepa, “Let’s talk about Sex”, 1991, London Records On sunshiny spring days when you get enough sleep, you don’t have a deadline to worry about, and nothing disturbs your routine, being healthy is easy. [...]
Posted by Michelle Butler Feb 15 2010, 6:01 am in bad habits, eating healthy, exercise, Expectations, food diary, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays, tracking
I’ve noticed an alarming trend the past few weeks. The amount of calories, or points for Weight Watchers followers, I’m eating daily is increasing while the amount of exercise I am doing daily is decreasing. This is not a formula for continued success with weight loss. I’m not sure why this is happening. I’m in [...]
Posted by Michelle Butler Nov 23 2009, 6:01 am in bad habits, fear, Holidays, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays
A very common complaint of dieters is that they get so sick of having to be aware of everything they put in their mouths and constantly counting calories or points. They want to be able to eat “like everyone else” and not have to work so hard at this. They’re particularly jealous of thin people [...]
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