Get Up and Move

Look Up, Get Up, But Never Give Up

I've been on the hunt for aids to regain and optimize motivation, energy and optimism as I've just been through another very rough patch with my mood disorder.

I don't know how to divide the blame between the natural cycling of moods that has always been in play vs the slippery slope of letting hard won habits slide away (like fudging on my self-care regimens--meds, sleep, exercise, hygiene) vs the several triggers I encountered between Thanksgiving and New Year's (the disappointment in not getting to spend Christmas with Ed and his family followed by passing the one year mark of my arrival at Mom's for an intended 3 week visit) vs the intense stress between Halloween and New Year's due to over commitment..

I supposed it doesn't really matter.  It happened.  Time to move on.

Moving aka exercise is the habit I chose as the first to focus on establishing when I made the commitment to both my counselor and Ed to get on the tramp for a minimum of fifteen minutes immediately after the morning vid chat with Ed.  That was the day of my last appointment three weeks ago and it is fairly well set now so I'm expecting to add another one during my counselor appointment tomorrow.

Not sure which yet.  Will discuss it with her tomorrow.  But the idea is to anchor each new habit to one that is already established.  I got that from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.  That is why when she asked me to choose a task to commit to I looked for something I could anchor to the vid chat which was one of the few things I still did at nearly the same time every day.  The others being lunch, dinner and reading to Mom before her bedtime..  I chose the vid chat as the anchor as the other things are not as stable Friday through Sunday when Mom spends the weekend at my brother's.

LOOK UP - GET UP - SUIT UP - LIFT UP - MOVE UP