Time to Talk Goals...

I can't believe there's only three months left of 2025! With that in mind, I wanted to take a look at the goals I last set for myself, and look at what I'd like to do for the rest of the year.

For August and September, I set two microresolution goals:

1. I will get up out of bed immediately with my main alarm (continued from June).
2. Three breaths of box (4/4/4/4) breathing or 4/7/8 breathing every day after work.

Neither of these really worked for me. I really like lounging around in bed for a bit, especially when my cat comes to hang out with me in the morning. And outside of a few days, I never really remembered to do the breathing after work - I needed to chain it to another behaviour but never did. I also don't feel comfortable with the neighbourhood where my work is now located, so when I get to my car, I just want to get out of there as fast as possible, not take a moment for a few deep breaths. 

I also got majorly derailed while on vacation. So that didn't help in trying to set two habits like these.

So for October, I decided to discontinue working on these right now. I'd like to work on some other areas of my life, but I may revisit these ideas in the future (with some tweaks!) What I'd really like to start tackling right now is my weight. My weight has been steadily rising since 2022, and that's been doing a number on my mental health. I keep feeling like I'm trying, but I feel like nothing is working. So maybe it's time to use smaller microresolutions to try to stop that continual weight gain?

My first thought is to focus on eating. I was originally thinking of measuring everything, but instead I am going to make the microresolution to put my fork down between bites of food. I have long been a fast eater, and I worry that eating fast means I end up shoveling more food into my body than I really need to (or really want to). I've been feeling like I've overeaten on a few occasions lately, so I want to see if slowing myself down will make a difference.

The second microresolution I am going to make for the month is to stop looking at screens one hour before bed. I'm hoping that will help me sleep better - I hadn't been sleeping well recently, and I know that I am normally more hungry when I am tired. There are going to be some exceptions to this: my insulin pump is a screen, and that is okay to look at. I may also end up looking at my phone when I'm low during the night and trying to keep myself up until my glucose level is high enough to go to sleep again - when I'm low, I find that I have a hard time concentrating on reading and other activities that take a little more brain power. Also, in the case of getting an emergency phone call during the night, it is also okay to be looking at my phone (I've got my phone set to silent except for specific people and circumstances, so it really will only be an emergency that gets through once my phone is on silent).

Well, that's my plan for October. I'll give these both a try for the next week or so and check back - it'll be good to see if anything needs to be tweaked at that time.