Take a Vacation - From Your Own Criticism

I haven't written in a while and I have either plenty of good excuses, or a number of cop-outs. Circumstances have made it difficult for me to focus my mind, find the time to write, or figure out topics to write about. Usually when I lose focus and falter from a routine that I pride myself on - be it working out, eating well, getting up early, reading the paper - I view the deviation from my healthy habits to be a failure and I get down on myself, chastising my commitment and therefore making it more difficult to get back on track because I now have low self esteem on top of my good excuses/cop outs.

This time, I've decided that I am not going to judge myself on the week when my keyboard was silent, I'm simply going to evaluate the time and decide how to move forward. Sure, I've been sick, I've been going through a hard time emotionally for a number of reasons, and my routine was interrupted which always generally throws all my rules out the window. Whether or not I'm accepting these reasons as good enough to have eaten poorly, rejected the gym, watched television for days in a row and ignored my laptop is besides the point. The point as I'm choosing it to be, is that these things happened and I would prefer for them to stop. I'd prefer to be back on my regular schedule and get back to being productive.

I think this attitude is important, especially in the lives of those who have high expectations for themselves and therefore are extremely disappointed when those expectations aren't met. It's important to give ourselves a break, and realize that sometimes we just need a break. Whether it's a few days where we eat the foods we don't generally allow ourselves, or a week when we don't get to the gym, or a day when we get nothing accomplished, I think we all make mistakes and should be a little bit gentler with ourselves when we make them.

When I felt ready to get back into my regular scheduled programming I welcomed it and felt happy to get back to my comfort zone. I am not angry at myself for letting my weekly goals slip by, I am only using the time as a learning experience, and encouraging myself to keep up the good work.