Daily Challenge - Day 6

I know, I know.  My challenges have been a bit silent lately.  Between craziness at home, my ankle deciding to act back up and my depression coming back in full force, I haven't had much will to update it.

I'd originally planned on having a healthy meal be my daily challenge for Wednesday, but that was before I realized how bare my freezer was and how empty my wallet was.  So that challenge will be bumped to another day.  I'm pretending that Wednesday and Thursday didn't happen and I'm just jumping right in with the next challenge

How do you get back on track after falling by the wayside?

This one came into place because of the last few days.  I haven't been exercising.  I haven't been cleaning.  I haven't been updating Today I....  I've been settling into a funk.

The old me would be saying, "See.  There's your proof.  FAILURE!"  Proof that I can't stick to anything, not matter what my intentions are from the beginning.  The old me would have given everything up for lost because of two days of missed goals.  The old me would have waited for six months to a year to start again.

But I'm trying not to be the old me.  I'm trying to become the new me that doesn't give up quite so easily.  So this is how I'm going to work on getting back on track:

1. I'm not going to try to catch back up all at once.  Wednesday and Thursday were both a wash.  Today is a new day with new things on my list to do.  And those are the ones I'm going to focus on.
2. I'm going to forgive myself.  That's always been difficult for me to do because I set my personal standards so high.  But if I wouldn't hold anyone else to these standards, it's not fair that I hold myself to them either.  So I forgive myself for not meeting all of my goals.
3. I'm going to start working on the things I need to do first thing in the morning, leaving computer work for last.  When I get on the computer, I find myself playing out my Marvel Avengers energy.  Then I need to check something else on Facebook.  Then I need to read the blogs I follow.  Only then do I start typing posts - usually memes.  Then it's back to checking Marvel and Facebook and blogs and e-mail.... it's too much distraction for me.  So I'm going to focus on the housework first.
4. I'm going to start printing out the day's plan the night before so I can take a look at it.  I started up my control journal when I cleaned my bedroom last weekend, so I can slip it into that and start each morning by pulling it out to see what I have going on.
5. I'm going to make exercising the last thing I do.  In some ways, this won't work as well for me because I'll be more tired from everything else.  But my husband wants to work out as well, so if we leave it for the evening, we'll be able to do it together.
6. I'm going to pare down my expectations.  For today, I have 12 things on my list.  Some of it are things like "Me time", but others are exercising and ankle exercises.  While I do need to do my ankle exercises every day, I don't need to do a work-out every day.  If I pare that down to a few times a week, and if I start getting the family to help more with the household chores so it's not taking me as long, then I'll be in a little better shape.
7. I'm going to make one thing be a focus of the week (much like FlyLady has the monthly challenges).  One week it may be cleaning, the next blogging, the next me personally.  This way, I can make sure the weekly focus gets done and if one of the other things on my list falls off, that's ok.

Will this work?  We'll have to see.  I won't know until I try.  But try I'm going to.  After all, life is about the journey.  And I'm tired of sitting at a rest area, waiting for it to continue.