044: Habits of Change

Are you one of those people who have that have an overly optimistic voice in your head - that "Of course you will do this. You can clean the whole house, weed the garden, have those coffee dates you postponed three weeks ago and go for a run! And you will be back in time to watch the Bachelor, ready, OK!" 

Yeah, that's what my voice sound like. She is the overly talented side of Katie - the one who can do a triple somersault whilst completing her tax forms. She also has pom-poms sometimes, often which she uses to hit my subconscious when I start accidentally searching flights for cheap around the world flights, again. 

I wake up most morning deciding that I will achieve so much, and go to bed so proud because I showered.  

When I moved into my new house, last week I had decided that I was going to be making some changes. (Briefly outlined here) and I have been trying to decide the best way to go about it. 

For a while now, I have been following Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project for some time now and have been curious to start one of her 21 Day Challenges. I had a look through hers and found myself with some problems. Firstly, although there are some great selections, such as "How to De-Clutter Your House" and "Stop Yelling At Your Kids" I couldn't seem to find a "How to Be a Grown Up" listed under any of the topics. Also, you had to pay for them, and I find that sort of lunacy insulting.

So I have decided to write my own. 

And because I have decided to make both my overachieving brain and my lazy brain happy, I've made it an abridged 21 Day Challenge, so more like a seven day challenge. 

I'm not sure how Gretchen does hers, but this is how I am going to do mine. 

I learnt a few years I watched this:   

which suggests that the best way to get into a habit is to actually do the new things. (seriously, why didn't I think of that, instead of googling how to do things and writing this great long spiel about doing things, I could actually be being said things) 

I have completed one of these chains before an it almost worked (aside from the fact that it isn't any more) and very much indent to give it another go. But rather than just one habit, I'm going to build mine up - like Gretchen does (I think) starting with the little things and working up. My little things are:

1. Making My Bed Day - I actually had to stop writing this so I could dash off and make my bed. 

2. Showering Every Day - I want something I can be proud of - see above comment

3. Get Dressed! (can you see what I'm getting at here

4. Clean Kitchen 

5. Write Something 

6. Talk to Someone - this might seem super easy (almost as easy as everything else on this list) as a fairly ridiculously strong introvert, this might be the one where I struggle

7. Drink 2lts of Water every day.

These are my little goals, goals which hopefully both sides of my brain will be able to manage, and hopefully, after a week, I might be an entirely different person. Maybe. 

xo 

Katie 

001: The Return of the Caterpillar: Now with Wings

Exactly sixmonths ago, I was at the airport; tears streaming down puffy cheeks, unable to look back over my shoulder at my family waving me on from the barrier dividing those going and those staying behind. As the door shut behind me, my sister touched my mother's arm and said, "You know, she will never be the same again." 

And through her tears, my mother nodded. 

That day I set off to study and live in an English city I knew nothing about. I landed in a snow capped London, and watched my life drastically change. I was surrounded by amazing people, from all over the world, seeing a country I have idealised since I was a child reach all my expectations and lead a life that would have satisfied the writers of any second rate Soap Opera. 

But now, after all this time, I will return to that same airport, and cross back over the dividing barrier and return to normal life, and see if my sisters prediction came true: that I really have changed for good. 

The possibility of change has always frightened me. I was scared stiff when I moved out of home, and petrified when I left the home I had made for myself in England. All those time, I had been afraid of the unknown - stepping out into uncharted waters and praying for the best. But after a lot of thought, I have realised that the unknown scares me only half as much as stepping backwards into a bad situation. 

The fear that consumes me now if not a fear of change, but the lack thereof. Having been so content with my life abroad, I don't think returning to the way things were before could no longer satisfy me. I am scared of return to the mundane nature of my home life, knowing what life if like when I am actually living. To know I can enjoy myself and that if living on the edge is more than possible. I know that I am capable of many great thing. I just don't want to forget it. 

But I have decided that I will not be letting that happen. There are a thousand things I can do, from the convenience of my own home, that will hopefully allow me to continue enjoying life and avoid the mundane lifestyle that I was enduring before I left. I want to be able to look back on the years of my twenties as a time when I did extraordinary things, and didn't waste my time. Because now I am out of the cocoon, and who has ever heard of a butterfly turning back into a caterpillar? Yeah, I didn't think so. 

Kathleen
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