40 Days

40 Days...

Why 40? Is it Biblical? It must be so. I ate strictly paleo diet for 150+consecutive meals, and I tracked them all in My Fitness Pal. That was more than 40 days; it was more like 50 or 60, but then I had to travel, and my “chain" was broken through not having complete control over the pantry. And now I’ve had to start all over again, even with having the will to be so hard-core. I lost 18 pounds, though, so I definitely have seen results. Always it’s like this in my life, two steps forward, one step back. 

So I read an article on elephant.com about a book called 40 Days of Yoga: Breaking Down Barriers to a Home Yoga Practice. More interesting than the premise, the reviewer said not only had she achieved a daily home yoga practice, she also blogged about it and then decided to do the same thing with writing. Yes, writing.

 

Really, 40 days can lead to anything you want it to lead to. It only takes 21 of those days, I hear, to create a habit. So that’s basically half of it. What are the other 19 for? Just for good measure? For erasing those ugly self-doubting mechanistic thoughts of the ego? I know from my experience with the paleo diet it can take longer than 40 days to do that. 

And what about that experience with paleo? Sixty days and still, no prolonged habit. What if I travel again? (I most certainly will.) Will I be strong enough to break out my mat/laptop in the home of my parents? In my defense, I did buy paleo food while I was there last, just everybody else ate it all. I can’t complain, it was mainly produce and I’m glad it was there for them. 

I just don’t adapt well to transitions, as part of my condition. It takes me forever to roll with the punches. I had control and that was good. I lost that control for a time, and now I can’t get used to having it again, or to just having it when I have it and not when I don’t. Anybody got any tips for making adjustments like this? Boiling it down to a cliche that I can repeat as a mantra? I’m good at that, sometimes. Maybe it goes like this, "I do the best I can, when I can." 

It’s just so hard to get back on track….