A few months ago I started to write a blog about my weird foibles. Long story short I never posted it because it made me sound like I was a complete basket case
Let me clarify that quickly so you don’t judge me, although if you’ve read my blog posts so far you’ve probably already come to a few conclusions about me already; some of them fair I’d say….
Anyway to summarise that blog quickly I have a number of habits or some would say obsessive compulsions in certain areas. None of these I would have described as being too severe individually but collectively perhaps it would suggest I’m a little bit weird
I guess it’s only fair to give you an example of these. I would add that since writing them down for the first time I have made a conscious effort to break the habits as often as possible however more often than not I will probably return to these default learned behaviours when not actively trying to stop myself
Anyway, in no particular order although one of them does involve numbering I will start:
- Socks always go on last – I have tried to change this one but it just feels wrong
- Odd numbers unnerve me. As an example when turning the volume up it has to be to an even number – This goes for list making so I’ll either stop now or share at least 2 more…
- Slightly linked to the last one. I don’t like having loose change in my pockets – This is because I don’t like not knowing how much money I have on me. If I have change I will keep recounting it just to check and this becomes a little unmanageable if I’m honest 😳
- I’m forcing myself to stop there 😬😬
So after reading back the original blog I started to question my own sanity firstly but then began to explore what it is about my personality that has led me to develop these habits
Habits being the key phrase. Some people call them obsessions or addictions but on reflection I am prone to developing habits that I will routinely repeat.
These can be good or bad.
Which in my head relates to the health implications of the particular habit; I haven’t considered until now the effect my habits have on others or even the wider effects the habits that I consider healthy have had or continue to have on my wellbeing
An example of one which isn’t the repetition of one specific activity but it highlights my natural instinct to adopt habits throughout the course of my life so far and it’s probably the ‘habit’ that has had the greatest overall impact, positive and negative throughout my life so far
Food has always played a big part in my life. When I was younger I remember when I received my first wage my first thought was planning the takeaways I could buy. I would meticulously plan the week ahead; McDonald’s on a Wednesday(Big Mac meal and 2 cheeseburgers), Chinese on a Friday(Sweet & Sour chicken, House special fried rice and prawn crackers), Indian on a Sunday (Chicken tikka masala, vegetable pilau rice, plain naan, 3 papadums)
This would happen every week for as long as I can remember and played a huge part in my severe weight gain during my later teenage years and one that continued when I left home and was responsible for providing for myself.
No breakfast, bacon sandwich and a bar of chocolate at break time, Greggs for lunch(sandwich and a pastie) and a bar of chocolate, Burger King after work, takeaway and chocolate for tea, all washed down throughout the day with full fat Coca Cola
Every day, repeated for at least two years
My habitual personality however eventually was a huge enabler for my weight loss.
The routine and preparation required to stick to a long term diet plan suited me, in hindsight it was probably the adoption and maintaining of a routine I was ‘obsessed’ with rather than in this particular example the food I was consuming.
None the less putting together a weekly food plan and sticking to it was a familiar thing. Only now I was making better choices and it worked, it really worked
My bad habits had taken me from a very active, fairly talented(If I say so myself) young sportsman to an unmotivated, inactive, socially reclusive, morbidly obese twenty something year old
Channelling this personality trait positively had transformed me into a fit,healthy, highly motivated soon to be married 25 year old 😁
On the downside having experienced the personal implications of both ends of the dietary spectrum my propensity to adopt habits has triggered an area of my brain and I now only see food as a means to an end, fuel to sustain an existence and I very rarely enjoy a meal without overthinking the calorie intake or how I balance out one meal with another later in the week – It is a tiresome thing and I often think back to a time when eating food wasn’t such a chore, such halcyon days…
This particular habit has the danger of becoming unhealthy to me personally and I am sure some would argue it already has and there is a medical diagnosis that describes my ‘symptoms’ but I maintain a healthy weight and I make it work for me – The impact on loved ones and others around me has been probably greater than I cared to admit in the past.
My food habits have at times restricted my social interactions, not that I would ever not go out to avoid eating; I do go out but I avoid eating or drinking unless I have made allowances for it in my week. Which again is hugely tiring for me and my family who are aware of it; again I make it work for me. I consider that the healthier approach than the alternative which I guess is the fear that I fall back into the habit at the other end of the scale which affected my teenage years
The lesser of two evils I guess is the way I compartmentalise things which again is probably a common trait of people with a particular medical problem.
That isn’t me trying to downplay this habit or imply I’m in complete control of it. I’m not and I don’t but over the last year or so I have become a lot more comfortable in my own skin which has allowed me to become more relaxed which sounds great on the face of things but digging down a bit deeper the realisation is that I have reached this with the adoption of more habits
Again I see these as positive habits.
Firstly I have increased my levels of exercise. At least 4 times a week. This isn’t a new thing as I’ve been keeping fit since initially losing weight when I trained for my first half marathon; I have continued to be a regular runner but found this to be very time consuming and the mental toughness to drag yourself out onto the streets at all hours was all consuming so again for my sanity and that of my family I have explored other forms of exercise. The current one of choice is HIIT or boot camps which I find really enjoyable and gives me a total body workout as opposed to the cardio focused running. Also it pushes me into social interaction with others rather than the isolation of road running
Secondly I am vegetarian now. Actually I’m a failed dietary vegan or should I say I aspire to be dietary vegan and some time soon I will make sure that’s another habit I adopt. For now exercise and a healthy diet have helped me reach a good balance and offered me a level of control that had been considerably lacking over the last few years and in all honesty allowed me to focus on the things that are much more important than when I put my socks on or how much loose change I’ve got in my pockets
I’m not claiming to be perfect, far from it. But right now I couldn’t be happier
And as habits go that’s by far the best one so far….
Fit for 40 