If there’s something that’s going to trip me up when it comes to my health journey, it’s food. I love food. Like, if we’re meeting in a city center and you call and say you’re going to be late? You will not have to worry about me because, trust, I will find a bakery or a coffeeshop within walking distance. And I’ll probably send you a picture of what I’m eating while you’re stuck in traffic.
So, yeah, food is a challenge. And I used to reward myself with a sticker for staying under my daily calorie goal…but that wasn’t working. What I’ve been doing so far this year and has worked is I simply earn a sticker if I track the food. Doesn’t matter how much I eat. If I write, take a picture of it, or somehow track my eating, I get my sticker.
Because what I was doing is, if I went over my caloric goal, I’d go into a spiral and think well, nothing matters. And it would just be a lost day in my tracking and I wouldn’t be aware of what I was eating.
The – this doesn’t matter though– is such a lie. Everything matters. One cupcake does not equal doomsday and by tracking everything, I am able to see that one day will not torpedo my health efforts, not because of what I think, but what the data is saying.
So, this year, I have a writing done calendar on the back of my door, just like I have one for my health goals. It’s incredibly easy for me to get a sticker. Did I write a fiction sentence? STICKER? Did I submit a story? BIG STICKER. I see that calendar every day. I literally can’t get away from it unlike tracking in a journal.
So here is where we come to a new section of the newsletter because I am using y’all for accountability:
Did Irette Write a Sentence of Fiction this week? This is a yes-or-no question. I don’t know if you can tell, but it’s easy for me to write non-fiction which is why, for the most part, this newsletter isn’t such a drain. But fiction has all the baggage for me that non-fiction does not.
So, just like eating, I’m taking the pressure off for writing. One fiction sentence a week? WINNER!
It’s all about getting and staying in the arena.
