Tracking my own life: Habits of eating and sleeping
Last week I’ve written a blog post about tracking your life and it’s benefits. At the end I had announced that I will track my own life too and this are my first insights.
After five days of tracking my life, I’ve gathered some insights I want to implement into my daily life. I’ve tracked my sleeping habits and noticed that going to bed after 12pm affects me negatively. I tend to eat out of boredom, read blogs and surf on twitter for no reason then staying awake. That’s stupid, because I’m using valueable time I could enjoy more doing something different. My productivity declines rapidly and I need 2 hours for a task I normally would get done in 20 minutes. I get frustrated, because I feel the need to be productive before going to bed, without getting many things done. My online time goes up drastically, so I don’t get rest, feeling unfulfilled and stressed. My body gets no time to switch into sleeping mode and therefor lets me lie awake in bed.
Now if I feel bored, frustrated, stressed or unfulfilled it can easily lead to overeating. Because I want to change my feelings instantly I choose to eat something to make me feel better without being hungry. But instead of eliminating the impuls for those feelings, I’m trying to override them. If I wouldn’t stay up that late, I would not feel that way but sleep at night.
When feeling negative emotions through the day I need to replace my reaction-patterns from eating to breathing deeply. You feel more aware of the present moment while breathing in deeply, not giving your power away to habits you’ve installed unconsciously. The moment I notice my cravings for food and their link to my emotions, I can be aware of it without following the impulse. That’s the true benefit of awareness.
When I go to bed before 12pm, I can easily wake up earlier than usual, giving myself special time for silence and joy. I will drink a cup of tea in the morning sun, listening to the birds and letting my thoughts easily come and go. I can do many important and exciting tasks in those morning hours which make me feel productive the whole day long and leaving me fulfilled. I’m enjoying life much more in those silent moments then when I do in those stressed one’s where I feel incomplete.
In summary I’ve realized I want to:
- go to bed before 12pm
- wake up before 8am
- enjoy the morning with a cup of tea in silence
- breathe instead of eat
I want to enjoy my life in new ways. I think this is just the first step, because I will notice new habits and create new ideas how to positively change them into something more enjoyable. But I need to take the first step to see the second one. This really feels empowering, so I know I’m on the right path.