Every Day I Will Do One Thing That Is Good For Me
I have never been the best at resolutions or self-promises. I never stick to my resolve to start going to the gym every day and I usually get about ten days into the new year before I start eating sweets again. When things are going particularly bad in my life, I find myself abandoning all motivation altogether.
And so this time, I’m changing the way I’m setting goals for myself. Instead of dreaming big and beating myself up over not being able to accomplish what I want, I will start small and work up. And today, I will start with one tiny thing.
Every day I will do one thing that is good for me. Even if I don’t want to. Even when it’s the last thing I want to do. I’m not asking myself to change my entire routine; instead, I’m challenging myself to make one tiny adjustment per day.
And maybe that just means reading a chapter of a book I’ve been struggling to get through before I go to bed. Or maybe it just means opting to eat vegetables instead of french fries at dinner. Or maybe it means going to the gym, or writing a poem, or brushing up on my Italian, or even just doing laundry. Honestly, it can be anything, big or small, as long as it betters me or my life in some way. Anything at all.
And so maybe every day won’t be about cutting off toxic friendships or living life to the fullest. Sometimes it’ll just be about not texting the fuckboy or not watching the extra hour of TV or not spending money on something I don’t need. It’ll be getting ahead at work or doing the chore I hate doing this most just because I know I need to do it.
Some days, it’ll just be getting out of bed when I’m so depressed that I’m not sure I can.
Because life change doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to come all at once. And it doesn’t have to always mean working toward the same goal. Improvement comes in phases, in working on all the little parts of your life you want to see a difference in. And as you inch along, hopefully you’ll start to realize that it’s less of a chore and more of a routine — because betterment shouldn’t be a job but a lifestyle.