change and inspiration

i thrive on change. i love moving to a new place and starting a new life. hence my seeming inability to stay put for more than a year…. there is just something so refreshing about starting over, about a clean slate, about an opportunity to be my best self in a new situation.

and at this very point in my life, i’m craving change so profoundly. i’m feeling full of small living and in the truest need of the spark of something different. however, i’m resisting the impulse to pack up and jet out and externally transform my life, at least for a little while. i feel that i need to stick with where i am and what i am doing, that this is my time to learn about persevering and changing internally without changing externally.

because isn’t it way more powerful to create a blank slate out of willpower rather than circumstance? to seize the opportunity to be better even when surroundings seem not very conducive? i think so. but for me, internal change is a lot harder than external change, and requires a lot of determination.

to help myself find happiness in my current itching-for-change life, i’ve decided to devote a month to practicing more self-discipline and adjusting my habits. i’ve created a list of rules to abide by for this month, and the hope is that publishing them on my blog will help me be accountable for them!

rules:
-always take the stairs at my office building
-read five work-related articles each day
-read one non-work-related stimulating article each day
-no computer usage after 10pm
-listen to music on the way to work every morning
-take a walk outside every afternoon
-exercise for one hour every day
-no exceptions or deviations from mindful eating plan (more about this later)
-read scriptures (and write down impressions) every morning before 9am
-leave my phone in the car during church or other activities i could be distracted from
-don’t multitask
-talk to my parents on the phone every week
-clean room and make bed every morning
-sleep at least seven hours every night
-find/read/watch one thing inspirational each day
…here’s one example:

the world is just awesome. and even when life feels hard and i want circumstances to be different, i can find power within myself to change, to change and be glad.