Habits to Keep, Habits to Break

Dear Amy,

I love this topic! I, like you, am driven by some weird sense of perfectionism. I want to be perfect. Luckily, in the last year or so, my idea of "perfect" has changed drastically. In fact, my idea if perfect is indeed flawed. No one is perfect, nor should we be. It's the imperfections that are our quirks. But this shift in the idea of perfectionism has come at a point in my life where I needed to do so, because I just don't have enough hands to catch all the balls that are being tossed around in my life.

I really think this helps my self-confidence too. I've always had a weirdly high self image. Sure, there have been many days when my hair was not right, my jeans too tight, my face too oily, my hands too dry. But I've always had a go-getter attitude, thinking I could pretty much do whatever I wanted to, as long as it was related to the amount of work I put into it. And I wanted to do that work. But, this past year I have been able to let go of some of my flaws and really feel good about myself.

Do you think it's easy to control your self-confidence or no? I think I'm a little weird in this case.

Anyway. Habits. Habits to break and habits to continue strengthening.

Laughing with this kid. Easy as pie.

1. Laughing. It's an easy one, and is it really a habit? I don't know. But finding the humor in the situation. Life with a baby can be exhausting and hard. Life with a deployed spouse can be depressing and difficult. But life in general, is good. I have my moments, but overall, I've been proud of my resiliency, and it's a good habit I want to keep building upon.

2. Staying active. I have to. I go crazy if I don't get my workout in. My run. My activity. I've always been a gym rat, and I have that to thank for the quick release of my baby weight (and then some). I'd really love to get back to yoga though. I miss it like crazy and my back does too.

I'm teaching him a life off the couch from a young age. I hope I can do it in a way that is healthy.

3. Eating right. Since Harry was born, I've made a real effort to eat real food. Nothing processed, not a lot of simple carbs or sugars, just clean, healthy food. Stuff that you can pick or kill. I feel SO GOOD. I definitely want to keep it up.

4. Peanut butter. Yes, this is a habit. I eat it all the time. I go through a mason jar every 3-4 days. It's so yummy. And yes, I could be eating much worse things, especially since I make my own peanut butter so I know exactly what I'm eating. But I'm eating too much of it. And I need to work on breaking the habit. And while we're at it, yogurt. Again, something good and healthy… unless your lactose intolerant (guilty). It's just so good!

5. My attitude with the military. I'm working on it. It's not great. And a habit I'm trying to instill is to stop complaining about it. 'Nuff said.

Okay, so how about one fluff resolution. One thing you'd love to do next year. You're not going to be held to this; it's just for fun. I think mine would be learning to knit (can you teach me!?).

GO!
Mallory

PS I'm so proud of your gym going. I love inspiring others to get physical. Doesn't it feel good?!