My weekend - tailgating! Health promotion ladies know how to party.

From my lack of posting, you should know that things are either going really well or really terrible. I would say it is kind of both. Life is good right now, but I’m mid-semester overwhelmed. Clearly, not enough to stay home on the weekends, but enough to freak out when it comes to adding the obligation of blogging on top of the obligation I’ve already invested the big bucks into.. grad school.

USC v. Auburn - we lost But the game was still fun!

So, I would say Aug./Sept. was a mixed bag. I did much better than anticipated, but I definitely can’t say I succeed. Although, I kind of expected that after things kind of fell apart in the middle of the month. I’m not beating myself up because that seems kind of pointless, and I honestly don’t have time to waste on that. I’m not abandoning the goal of making those habits stick, I’m just taking them with me into the next months.

So moving on to the two habits goals for October/November..

Healthy Habit: Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. I know this seems like an easy one because I honestly love fruits and vegetables. And when I have time to cook all my meals, I eat mostly fruits and vegetables. But… when I have weeks like last week or weekends like my last weekend.. I end up eating a more “traditional” American diet… starch + protein + sugar. And it makes me feel awful.

I love fall vegetables, and I think this is doable. By making it a “habit,” I want to keep track of the servings per day to keep myself accountable on the days when it isn’t as easy to get them in.

Lifestyle Habit: Do mindfulness practice. At least 5 minutes. Every single day. I just started a mindfulness meditation program at school. And I really love it. The first class, we talked about the importance of mindfulness and we did some guided meditations. Finding a place for that in my schedule was a great decision.

Part of the class is “homework” which is doing some mindfulness practice and recording it. Every day. That sounds like forming a habit to me! So I’m making that homework my blog homework too. Our instructor Laura calls it “dogged compassion.” She also said something in class that really resonated with me: “There is always more right with you than wrong in any given moment.” That’s worth remembering. You can follow her on facebook if you want some mindfulness inspiration.

What are your goals for the fall? Do you feel inspired by the changing season or nervous? I’m a mixture of both. I love the cooler weather, but I have a well documented hatred for the shorter days.