I have many ideas written down to talk about today most likely because it's been so long since I've written, but most of the ideas concern today. Perhaps, it is because I'm having a good day??? I'm not sure. I am happy to be having a good day, though.
I'll start off with the first topic now. Since I dedicated part of my title to it, I'll go with...HABITS! Wowie! All the caps!!! Should I have put that in caps, too? Hmm... I hear Gilmore Girls. Me is sad.
Enough with the tangents and distractions! ...And exclamation points.
Habits: They suck. They rock. They benefit you big-time, but they suck up a lot of time. Some are good habits. Some are bad habits. Some of my bad habits from the past include biting my fingernails. I bit my fingernails so much as a child. I think I finally stopped in high school one time when I painted my nails. I thought about how much I really didn't want that in my mouth and stomach. Nail polish never stopped me from chewing my nails before, not even the supposedly bad-tasting one designed specifically to stop people from chewing their nails. For whatever reason, it finally worked. After stopping, though, I would still bite my nails when I was extremely stressed, such as while studying for finals my freshman year of college.
I stopped myself from biting my nails, even when I was under stress somehow. I'm not even sure how. I probably wanted to stop and subconsciously substituted new bad habits to fill its void, such as picking at my face--specifically my pimples. When I read and study, I'm constantly feeling my acne and trying to pull off the heads and scabs that feel pretty loose. Gross, I know, but I'm telling you I do it. I also play with my fingers and shake my legs and feet often. I forgot about those... I guess they're pretty bad if they're hiding!
GOOD HABITS TIME! I started some new good habits recently. One is exercising for an hour a day. I've struggled with making this a habit before, but a lesson in my developmental psychology class struck me and caused me to take it much more seriously. We were taught that everybody should exercise for an hour everyday. If you do not, it is terrible for your health. Everybody knows that, though, right? Well, this is what got me: Even skinny people who do not exercise are at increased risk for sudden death.
I've becoming more aware and conscious of the fact that time is not found. Time is made. Therefore, I set out to make time for exercising an hour everyday. I decided that I am going to do it before my classes. They start at 9:40 A.M. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and 9:00 A.M. on Tuesday and Thursday. I need an hour to shower after my exercise--maybe an hour and a half if possible to be on the safe side and have time to walk to class and/or search for a parking space--an hour to exercise, and an hour to commute to school. I exercise at the recreation center on campus. I pay for it in my tuition and fees each semester anyway. I'm putting it to my benefit now. That has me leaving my house around 6:00 A.M. on MWF and 5:30 A.M. on TR and waking up at 5:00 A.M. on MWF and 4:30 A.M. on TR. I usually go to bed around 9:00 P.M. since starting that habit--give or take, depending on texting my boyfriend (I love youuuu. ;*). I do warm up exercises from Women's Health online (http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/stretch-workout). I read it from my iPad while exercising. It takes me ten minutes if I start and stop my timer in between exercise to read. I did a squat challenge one summer, and my knees would pop. Someone suggested warming up. I found these moves, and they work great for me. They're also really good at working at my muscles, it seems. I'm pretty sore--seems like enough evidence to me. Then, I run as much as I can for the remainder of the hour. I can't run for a long time since I'm just starting, so I walk in between until I feel comfortable enough to start running again. I listen to my music, and Tuesday, I actually watched a YouTube video toward the end. It helped time go by more quickly, but I walked the entire time instead of running when I can. Wednesday, I decided to slow down and do yoga for the hour. I love the application Yoga Studio for iPhone/iPad (It may be available on Androids. I'm not sure. I'm just aware that it's available for iPhone and iPad because I have it on both of mine.) According to the link, it looks as if it's only available for Apple devices. It cost $2.99 when I bought it if I remember correctly. One of my favorite things about it, which I only learned after I bought it, is you get rewarded for being fit and healthy. I got Amazon credits and bought music with it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what happened Wednesday, but I didn't get my reward then.): I was upset because I was planning my purchases during my exercise--talk about a letdown. I believe that the next exercise I'm going to try is an half hour of yoga, ten-minute warm-up stretches, and running/walking for the rest of the hour.
FINALLY, my last/second new good habit: brushing my teeth, flossing, washing my face, and washing my retainers twice a day and wearing my retainers every night (again--for now until my teeth are straight and set/back to normal again). I usually did all that once a day before school because I'd be too tired to take fifteen minutes away from sleep at night. I'd even skip entirely on weekends sometimes. Don't judge me, please. I wore braces for two years. I got them off senior year of high school before graduation (Yay! But after yearbook/graduation pictures, boo...) so about three years ago now. I am good on and off with my retainers. Lately, I'm off the good train, BUT I'm getting myself back on the good train. My teeth aren't terrible, but they made me nervous for a while that I'd need braces again ($$$$$$$$).
I think I will conclude my post here. It seems pretty dang long. I wanted to mention a couple of my subjects in this post, but uhhhhhh, no, it's very much.
I hope you enjoy this post, also, and I hope that it isn't too long before I post again. I can't make any promises, though--ugh, school, COLLEGE.
