One Month Down, Two New Habits!

One day until I'm officially a year from forty and through my first month of the quest. Good time to stop and check progress, no?  

Major learning of month one: sometimes simple things are very hard-- and the things you thought would be very hard, really aren't.  Case in point: I was fairly certain I'd never be able to reduce soda and I was sure I'd "forget" to floss many days each week.  I also thought I'd be able to read easily because I love to read. 

Well, the flossing is now a daily habit-- and really became one within the first week. Once I realized the sugar impact of soda, it just became less attractive. So I'm down to one and sometimes none a day. I wish I'd tried these habits earlier. But I still haven't finished the book yet! Shocked! It's not even that big. I just can't seem to wind down enough to get it done.

So two new life habits are in play and lots of fun stuff in March to look forward to. But for now, I'm going to dive (back) into my book, and enjoy an enormous piece of birthday cake with my family tomorrow. And water. Ha!

Happy Birthday y'all!

Sans Soda. I've lost my mind.

Oh soda.  How I have forsaken ye.

From my childhood in the south, I've been a big Coca-Cola drinker.  I pretty much missed the whole emerging coffee scene about a decade (or two) ago because I thought, WHY mess with coffee when I get all the caffeine and sugar I could ever want in a single can of soda? I referred to it as my "cold coffee".

When I say I drank a lot, I mean it was a lot.  Multiple cans a day.  It kept me going.  It made me happy.  It was fizzy, sweet, satisfying-- everything wonderful.  Every week it was a mainstay on my grocery list, and every week I would time it just right to where the 20 pack was running out on grocery day. Yep, at least two at home and a third one on a weekend day-- and that doesn't even count the ones I'd pick up during the day.

As I was working with my accountability team on ideas for the challenge, one of my awesome team members, Gina, shared how cutting out all sodas and sugary drinks had made a huge contribution to her improved health.  Still, I couldn't imagine dropping the soda.  My Coke.

But, something told me she was right and I needed to make this a part of my challenge.  It is probably my oldest habit, so I knew I had to start on it early and that I would go into shock if I tried to go cold turkey. This suspicion was confirmed as I started researching soda and what it is really doing to your body (and special thanks to get moving coach Kelly for that video!).  Then I found all these articles about people whose death was linked to soda intake.  And of course, the one that got me the most was people who had elevated levels of aluminum in their bodies from drinking soda in cans.

I read how it could be used to take acid off a car battery, clean a toilet, shine a dull penny.  All kinds of stomach churning things. Each story I read pushed me to be more committed to breaking this habit.

But the kicker was when I picked up a 5 lb bag of sugar.  There are 2270 grams of sugar in that bag.  There are 33 grams of sugar in a single can of coke.  That means 69 cans of coke have the same amount of sugar as the one bag of sugar I was holding.  So, at my usual pace, in roughly every 2.5-3 weeks, I was consuming the equivalent of a 5lb sugar bag. That just seemed crazy to me.

I've done well this month.  I've gone many days down to just one soda and overall am drinking less of it than usual.  I'm now on my second full day with no soda-- my weekly supply ran out and I made the decision to not buy it this week.  Instead, I grabbed another 24-pack of Aquafina and rolled on over to the paper towel aisle.

My goal was to eliminate soda in March, so I haven't gone totally cold turkey.  It does surprise me, however, that I am without soda so much earlier than planned.  My first few days on reduced soda were awful.  I was sleepy, craved sugar, was super cranky.  But, each day got a little easier.

And, this doesn't mean I will never have another soda again in my life.  Rather, I will have it as it was intended to be enjoyed when it was conceived-- a treat to enjoy occasionally.  Not as a daily piece of my diet.

So, soda-- it's not you, it's me.  I just don't want all you bring with you in my body.

But, we can enjoy our future few and far between special times because you will always have a special place in my heart.

Me relax? Seriously?

So, I’m making good progress on my goals for this month, but I’ve discovered an area that I need to put a little more focus on than before.  This is in the area of managing stress.

I’ve always prided myself on the fact that regardless of how crazy life can get, I stay pretty cool on the outside. But, inside is a whole different story.  Talk about a brain going a million miles a minute.  In most situations, I can just start working on something logically and move it forward. I rarely stay stressed for long.

But, the time has come that the stress is getting pretty big, pretty fast.  And I’m feeling the physical effects much more than I ever have.  I think it’s because things I want take time.  Patience is not one of my better virtues—I like to GO! 

One thing I’ve learned over time is that the periods of stress don’t last forever.  But man, when you are stuck in one, it feels like it’s going to.  So, I want to add a few challenges to the quest that specifically deal with managing stress.  Just like I’m practicing gratitude, I want to focus on strengthening the mental aspects of staying calm when life gets a little crazy.

As luck would have it, while I was writing this, a friend posted a great article on LinkedIn.  This is where I’ll start. 

Look for more ideas to be added to the quest in the following months and feel free to share your ideas in the comments below!

Good Intentions

Moment of confession.  I ALMOST made it through the social media fast.  Almost.

I made it to 4 p.m.  But, I picked a pretty lousy day to stay off the sites because I was working from home all day.  So, I'm going to give it a go again this week.  Just to officially complete the challenge.

Here's what I learned from the time off.  Social media is awesome.  It's a great way to keep up with what's going on in the world and your friends/connections.  But, putting down the phone is almost like breaking an addiction.  It isn't so much the content I'm craving, it's just having something to do to fill the down spaces.

The thing I missed the most was Twitter.  Mostly because I follow most major news outlets there.  It felt a little archaic to actually go to websites for news.  I actually watched the morning, afternoon and evening news that day.  Crazy what you miss.

So, I think I'm going to actually pare back my initial goal of building up to 5 days a month.  I think I'll see if I can peak at 3 and keep it there.

So far this has been an interesting journey.  Check out the weekly wins to see how I'm doing!

Listen to the Minions

I love this cartoon. And it perfectly sums up why I'm trying a growing social media fast during the quest. Did you know:

1. Each Facebook user spends on average 15 hours and 33 minutes a month on the site
2. More than 250 million people access Facebook through their mobile devices

Yep, I'm in that number somewhere. 

I love social media. I'm a communicator by trade, so I'm inherently designed to see the value. But for me, I really jumped in the fray when I moved from my home in Memphis to Akron, OH about 18 months ago. It was a lifeline for me to my friends and family. Suddenly, I was very interested in the fact that someone was having pot roast for dinner, or the fact that they hated Mondays. Crazy. 

Well, 18 months later, I am tweeting, hash tagging, videoing,  pinning, sharing, and liking as a way of life. No biggie right?  Then I missed something big. 

About a week ago, thanks to two cancelled flights, I went to see the Super Bowl kickoff party in Times Square. I was so excited about filming the Jersey Boys, the Rockettes and the Boys Choir of Harlem all performing together (I mean it had to go on Facebook right?)  I was staring through my phone and framed the stage perfectly. Score. 

When I was riding to the airport that night it occurred to me-- the point of the event was to unveil the massive Super Bowl numbers. I realized I never saw them. I googled them (of course) and realized that while I was posting and videoing away, the numbers rose behind the stage and they were gold and enormous. I totally missed it. And I was mere feet away. I looked at my pictures and video and sure enough, you can barely see the bottom of them. They were completely cut off. 

That's when it hit me, I need to spend some time away from the apps. And this will be hard. Very hard. I turn off my alarm and grab the iPhone to scroll Facebook and Twitter first thing every morning. Habit!  

Well I realized that tomorrow, no one has a birthday on Facebook. So I can cut the cord then. I'm committing to one day off of social media. The tweeting and buzzing will stop for the day. I'm increasing a day per month until I can go five days a month offline. 

Now, don't think I've gone crazy. I will still care about your pot roast on Thursday. 

Getting Started

I'm a big believer that if you want to do something, do it big and have fun with it.  It's probably why most people who know me will attest to the fact that I tend to run toward challenges and face them head on. I leave little unresolved.  I find that God consistently puts the people and resources I need at that moment, in my path.  I also think that's why I've been lucky to have so many wonderful friends in my life.  They are perfectly placed there by a reason much bigger than me.

Well, that all leads me to today.  13 months away from turning 40.  This means I'm in the danger zone of all my friends turning 39 and 40.  Which means the topic of conversation for many of us these days starts with "Seriously, 40?  How did that happen? Why is it so close? Dear Lord, my life is over."  Rarely does anyone seem excited about it. I mean, we made it on this earth for 40 years-- and we have a lot to show for it.

I decided, in typical Jennie fashion, to be the exception.  Yes.  The big birthday is looming, but if I spend the year prior to it establishing how I'll take care of myself in the next 40 years, then I'm guaranteed to enter the big 40 with a smile.  And, it means I'll hit my goal of being a hot 40 year-old.

See, I've always joked about being a hot 40 year-old.  And, that extends to my health, my emotional state and the experiences I've had in life.  It helps that so many celebrities are turning 50 or older and they look incredible.  It's proof it can be done. So why not me too?

Now, of course my resources are not as great as those in the celebrity world, but I am blessed with a wonderful network of creative friends and a wicked imagination.  I'm calling on all of them to make this a great year of growth, experience and success. Thankfully, they are just as game as I am.

So that's the point of this site.  I created it so anything I learn on this journey can be shared with others who might be facing similar challenges.  You'll see the navigation will show you the details of my challenges, reflection points, the amazing people on the journey with me and resources that I'll be using throughout the quest.

Thanks for joining me on this site and I hope you'll pick up a few tips, as well as share a few tips along the way.  Hottness loves company.  Have a great day!

Jennie B.