The Results Of My Planning Book

 I finished the planning book today. It's a thin book, so I could only plan for 3 weeks.

But the results, the patterns I've noticed over the past 3 weeks, are very interesting.

The things I thought I was doing poorly at and the things I thought I was doing well or just okay at are very different.

Sleep, especially sleeping during the day and staying up at night, has been a big worry for me for a long time. This bad habit started when the kids were little, and I was working almost every evening. I would get up early, especially when the kids started school, I would get chores done, meals prepared for the day, then rest in the afternoon because I knew that teaching kids in the evening would be hard if I'm tired. I can get very bad-tempered when I'm tired! Most days I was teaching from 4 o'clock to 9 or 10 o'clock. After teaching, I would be too hyper to go to bed early, so I would stay up until at least midnight. This has become a bad habit. Now, however, I'm not teaching every day, but it is still easier to keep that same pattern. What I noticed during the past 3 weeks is that I have a few days where I'm on the go all day, cleaning, doing the garden a bit, teaching a couple of days a week and studying/reading in the afternoon. Then I would get over tired and rest for a day. I need to even things out more, spread the chores over a few days instead of trying to tackle everything in one day. Also, set a bedtime, even if I'm not tired; just wind down the day by reading and relaxing, not doomscrolling or watching TV.

One thing I thought I was dealing with alright was my eating. I've noticed that I do alright with breakfast and lunch, but the late-afternoon and evening things go downhill fast. I'm not really hungry, but I pick at things. Recently, it's been peanut butter and jam sandwiches! Very bad! I don't keep snacks in the house as I know I'll eat them, but it's so easy to send a message to Christopher and ask him to pick up something on the way home. I think I'll have to prepare some high-protein, low-fat snacks to have at hand. Things like tofu, nato, chicken breast, and boiled eggs. I'll see if I can find some recipes to help with that. I'm back to not eating carbs in the mornings, just some protein and fruit. I found a smoothie recipe that I should start making again: plain yoghurt, tofu and some berries. I use frozen berries as they are very expensive here. The recipe called for equal amounts of yoghurt and tofu, but I use more yoghurt than tofu as I don't want a strong tofu taste. I'm trying to get back into having just protein and vegetables for dinner. I've managed that for the past few days. 

I haven't been exercising as much as I thought I was. I'll have to get back into my chair exercise. I thought I was walking more, but some days I do a lot of walking, other days almost nothing. 

I cleaned more than I thought. Maybe because this house is always a mess, I thought I wasn't doing that much. But almost every day I cleaned, some days more than others.

I've studied a lot, not Japanese, but I've been reading a lot of history recently. 

Keeping this notebook over the past 3 weeks has been very eye-opening for me. I had this image of myself that I don't do anything constructive, that I just sleep all day, every day. I thought that at least I was eating alright, with the occasional treat and exercising more. 

For the next 21 days, I'm going to focus on 2 things: eating and exercise. I read somewhere that it takes at least 21 days to build new habits. I'm going to use my diary to record what I do, how my eating is going, and also why I'm eating too much. I know I'm a stress eater, but I think I eat out of boredom as well. So I want to record what my emotions are around eating.

I struggle with exercise; I find it boring and would rather avoid it at all costs.  But I know that if I want a good, long life, I need to set habits now that will get me fit and keep me fit for the future.

I hope by tackling these two areas that I'll be able to tackle the other areas of my life after/

Talking about the future, Christopher bought a few things for Hannah. Mikey and I are going to see her tomorrow. This photo shows some of the groceries he bought.

Grocery for Hannah

The red packages are spaghetti. Hannah asked how long the spaghetti would last; she thought maybe a couple of months. The best-by date on the back says until 2029. Three years, by that time I'll be 67! Somehow this surprised me. Hannah will be 27, Christopher will be 31!  

I hope by then my health will be better, that my kids will finally be settled and living the lives they want, and that this house and land will be in a better shape. 

Here's to the next three weeks!