12 Months to a Healthier You: July 2014

12 Months to a Healthier You is a monthly challenge I’ve decided to take on. By taking on small challenges every month I’m hoping to make lifelong changes in the way I live.

Camp started last week, which means summer is in full swing.  At work I’m part of a walking contest, so they sent me a pedometer and starting last week, I’ve really tried to keep track of all my steps.  I hope I continue wearing the device… it’s a bit bulky, but for now I’m not in the market for something fancier like a FitBit.

As a reminder, here are this year’s focus areas:

12 Months to a Healthier You

Focus Areas for 2014

January: Exercise Regularly
February: Eat More Fresh Fruits & Veggies
March: Drink More Water
April: Cut Back on Sugar
May: Get More Rest
June: Create a Morning Routine
July: Read More
August: Go to Bed Earlier
September: De-clutter Your Home
October: Cut Back on Caffeine
November: Keep a Gratitude Journal
December: Simplify & Say No

July Goal: Read More

I’ve never been the biggest reader, but lately have found that reading on the train and in bed at night really relaxes me.  It also helps me fall asleep.

I don’t have time to go to the library (or read an entire book in 2 weeks), so I’ve started downloading free kindle books.  I even bought one for $1.99, since I really wanted to read it.  I carry my phone with me to work, so it’s easy to read on the train using the Kindle app.  You can download it on any device, bookmark the page you’re on and it’s small so it’s easy to hold in one hand.

I hope to write more book reviews for you soon, but in order for that to happen I’ll also have to try to get to bed earlier so I have more time for real reading, not just Facebook “research.”

Past Months In Review

June: Create a Morning Routine– We have a pretty set morning routine, but one thing I’ve really been focusing on is to be organized at night so we can go through our morning routine more easily.

These are the steps I took:

  1. Got out of bed on time
  2. Made sure all lunches and bags are packed the night before
  3. Worked hard to put all the clean laundry away so we can find our clothing more easily in the morning

I hope to keep this up, because it definitely helped us get out the door in the morning.

May: Get More Rest- I need to work on this more… must get to bed earlier!  I have been so tired lately that I find myself falling asleep on the couch on Sunday while I’m watching the kids.  Unacceptable!

April: Cut Back on Sugar- Surprisingly, I’ve been working on this a bit.  In the past two weeks I’ve really made an effort to cut back on some serious snacking.  Hope I can keep it up.

March: Drink More Water- Now that summer’s here this one is even more important.  I still have my water bottle on my desk, so I’m making a real effort.

February: Eat More Fresh Fruits & Veggies- Yay for summer fruit.  I’ve been buying more grapes, watermelon and peaches.

January: Exercise Regularly- Walking is the way to go.  I think I only took the train once this entire month and that was only because it was raining.

Let’s see what I can do this month to improve!

How do you find time to read?

Until next time,
Shaindy

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