Brains are for having ideas, not storing them. I don’t care how small the piece of information is: If I want to remember if I have to write it down. In my phone, a piece of paper, whatever. I almost always regret not writing down something I’m certain I’ll remember.
I’m not a night owl. My perfect day ends with me falling fast asleep at 9:00P and waiting up refreshed at 6:00A. As such, I’m prone to more negative thinking in the evening. Mostly because I’m tired after working + parenting 2 babies. If I have an important decision to make it needs to be punted to the morning after a good night’s sleep.
I sometimes get trapped in all or nothing thinking, which is never useful when I’m trying to change my own habits. Getting out for two 15 minute walks a day is way better than nothing for my health.
I realize many of my rules are focused around the fact that I’m living in a very intensive parenting phase. But even when I’m up at 12:30A or cleaning yogurt off the floor I find myself thinking, “These are the days.” There are lots of hard parts about parenting young children, but lots of amazing parts too. Similarly, there are hard parts in being single in a new city, starting a new job, sending your kids off to college…but there are also amazing parts. Instead of always looking forward to what’s next, I’m working on being grateful for what is right now.