In case you missed my last few posts, Atomic Habits by James Clear has become my bible of sorts. In this post, I apply one of the lessons from the end of the book to my life and the changes I am making to be a healthy and fit bad ass. Without further ado, here is the post:

Toward the end of Atomic Habits, author James Clear mentions taking a mid-year review of his habits. I love this idea! Through my journaling, I have learned that the two most important things I can do for my well-being are (1) paying attention and (2) staying curious. I mostly do this with daily journaling, but a semi-annual review of my habits will help me pay attention and stay curious in a new and fun way.

Last week, I started to roll out the good habits that will help me build my new identity as a healthy and fit person. First, I started tracking my water, with a daily goal of drinking at least 100 ounces of water. After a few days of tracking my water intake (my skin already fees smoother), I felt inspired to track my veggies. I don’t eat nearly enough vegetables so this is my way of getting into the habit of eating my greens (and oranges).

I’ll review those habits at the end of the year. Or maybe at the end of 2019’s third quarter. But for the first half of 2019, I can certainly review my walking.

I started 2019 with a goal of walking an average of 10,000 steps each day. As of the time I am writing this (July 23, 2019), I have walked an average of 11,030 steps each day. I am well on my way to logging over 3.65 million steps this year!

Let’s look at my monthly averages for the first six months:

• January: 11,580 steps/day
• February: 10,104 steps/day
• March: 11,099 steps/day
• April: 11,461 steps/day
• May: 11,195 steps/day
• June: 11,196 steps/day

January was my best month and then I took a bit of a dive for my worst month in February. This makes sense. I was in good health in January. It rained a lot, but I was committed to going to the mall to make sure I got my steps. In February, I had some health issues (a bad cold, bad shoulder, another bad cold, insomnia, more shoulder pain) and we had a ton of rain. But I still got my steps! Things improved drastically in March once I went back on Mirtazipane to counter my insomnia. Sleep is definitely a cornerstone of my health.

Now let’s take a look at my weekly averages. I’m curious as to my best/worst weeks!

• My best week was the week of March 24-30. I averaged 12,412 steps/day. I would not have guessed! That was the first week Julian’s preschool had to shut down after asbestos contamination and his babysitter was out of town. With zero childcare and a 3.5 year old who dislikes the stroller, I really had to hustle to get those steps. Maybe the difficulty of getting my steps inspired me to work extra hard?
• My second to worst week was February 12-23, when I was struggling with insomnia and a bum shoulder. I only averaged 7,316 steps/day.
• But my most abysmal week was June 30-July 6, when I averaged 6,994/steps day. That was the week of our Nebraska trip, and the conditions were not conducive to walking. It was hot and humid and we spent a lot of time in the car. Oh well! When we go to Nebraska next summer, I’ll challenge myself to break through the 7,000 steps/day mark.

And just to satisfy my own curiosity, I scrolled through my Fitbit data for my best and worst days of the first half of 2019.

• Best day: May 3: 22,759 – Family trip to Disneyland!
• Worst day: May 25: 1,263. Wow! I remember that day well. It was a Saturday and I had a cold and was ridiculously fatigued. Nathan was supposed to go to the race track but ended up watching the kids all day while I napped. All my steps were logged either going to the bathroom or shuffling to the kitchen to get a little food.
• I love that I had my best and worst days during the same month. They cancelled each other out.

Reviewing my steps made for an extremely satisfying twenty minutes! I wonder if I can beat the day I got 22,759 steps? Without a trip to Disneyland? Or do I need the motivation of Space Mountain to walk that much? Can I break the 12,000 mark for a monthly average? Can I break the 13,000 mark for a weekly average?

I want to continue working toward 3.65 million steps for 2019 BUT I also want to start doing hot yoga when the kids go back to school. I could walk and do hot yoga on the same day, but I still need time for writing, errands, and appointments. I shall have to pay attention and be curious about what works best for me. After all, I have been walking toward my goal 3.65 million steps to improve my fitness and health; but iff hot yoga makes me even healthier, I do not want to let a goal I made at the beginning of the year get in the way of my progress toward being a healthy and fit bad ass.