February New Year's Resolutions

Did I mention I'm implementing  my New Year's Resolutions monthly this year? It just seems likely this will return a higher rate of success.

January, as you're all aware, was the one hour of TV per day.  This has gone well. My focus when I made the resolution was on weekdays. I'll still watch a movie or, for example, the Superbowl, on weekends. I haven't been perfect. There have been a couple of times I've indulged and watched 90-120 minutes of TV. But I'm thinking about it now, and I'm aware that I don't feel good, mentally and physically, after I watch TV at night. So I'll carry that resolution forward as I implement February.

February has to do with food. And after thinking about it, I think I'm going to implement this goal in stages throughout the month.  The resolution is not to read anything while I eat. This is huge for me. Unless Blair and I sit down to dinner together, I ALWAYS have a book or magazine in my face while I eat. Meals are how I keep up with my magazine reading: Newsweek, The New Yorker, Log Homes, NC Business Journal, and several other magazines are read while eating cereal and sipping coffee. 

The problem with this is twofold.  One, I'm unaware of what I'm eating. I look up and--surprise!--my meal is gone. This leaves me feeling like I've never really had a meal and I consequently go back to get more (which disappears while I read the next article). The other problem is that I've trained myself that I need to be eating to finish an article. If I finish my meal but there is still a page to go, I will walk back into the kitchen and find something to eat while I finish reading. Not a good thing.

To begin, I'm concentrating on breakfast. No reading while eating breakfast. If that goes well for two weeks, I'll include lunch. But I'd prefer not to rush it. I'd rather a small good habit take hold versus trying to force an instant overhaul that's unlikely to stick.

I can already tell I'll miss my reading. But I think about this as creating awareness versus a lifelong change. Once I break the habit, there's no law that says I can't read the occasional article at the table.  Moderation in all things.

Wish me luck.