Fifteen Apples

Tuesday January 15th, 2008 - Lake Villa, IL

I’m learning the hard way that decisions have consequences. I slept way too long today but I was beat from my all night road marathon on Sunday night/Monday morning. That’s two days ago but it’s still affecting me. Yesterday was out of whack and now today I slept until almost noon. I rarely do that and it made me feel like I wasted the whole day‘s work.

This is the time when all that resolution crap has worn off for everyone. It’s back to the grind of everyday life and that’s never easy. This is the beginning of the third week of the year and it’s a lot smarter to cut it into weeks rather than write a few goals down and then blow them early and go right back to all the bad habits again. I don’t want that to be me.

I saw how late it was and felt a little bit disappointed but what could I do? I overslept. It made me think of what I could do to salvage the day. I have a lot of things I could do but I can’t do them all. Not in one day. Planning and managing my time is more important than it’s ever been and I just wasted my morning asleep when I could have been getting ahead.

That’s not a habit I want to get into and I won’t. I forced myself to get outside and make a trip to the post office and the bank and get some exercise and fresh air. I wanted to light a fire under myself to get moving and do something productive so I wouldn’t waste a day. I also stopped at the grocery store and picked up a bag of apples and some drinking water.

I have eaten an apple a day since January 1st. I haven’t written about it because it’s hard enough to not be boring with this diary without talking about my fruit consumption habits but it’s been two weeks now and I think it’s worth noting. I’m not a huge fan of apples as a rule but the whole ‘apple a day keeps the doctor away’ must have some truth in there.

Now I’m finding myself actually looking forward to my daily apple. I’ve read how it’s a good thing to do because of all the health benefits of the apple’s skin alone. Of course it’s not going to help if I wash it down with a Pepsi and a candy bar but one thing at a time. If I keep it up for another two weeks and then another two weeks I will make it into a habit.

I did have my apple today and it was delicious. I also am going to fast for at least one 24 hour period each week depending on when it’s convenient. Somewhere between Tuesday and Thursday would be a good fit and I’ve also done that for both weeks so far this year. I am changing slowly and opening myself up to new things but I’m still a long way off yet.

But I’m thinking about it and that’s good. Small steps over and over become big ones. It isn’t too late to keep slugging because I’ve still got 50 more weeks left in the year plus an extra day on February 29th. One day of oversleeping isn’t going to wipe me out but if I do it again tomorrow I’ll really be upset with myself. It’s time to start making things happen.

I started by cleaning off my desk and starting over. It was piling up with junk and paper and clutter that made me sick to look at. It felt great to clean it off and start organizing my life like it should be. I’m still on a good track but this was a wakeup call I needed to get.