Do you take good care of yourself?

I read a terrific article this week from Leo Babauta over at Zen Habits entitled When Willpower is Trumped by Bad Habits.  This article really resonated with me.  I have a HUGE tendency to let my bad habits get in the way of me taking care of me.  Having always been the one who takes care of other people and focusing on everything but myself- I seem to very easily get caught up in my life and my will power falls by the wayside.

 I have so many good intentions for myself, so many things that I want to do and so many changes that I want to make for my health and for my well being.  I think about them, I make plans for them, and then I wake up in the morning and I go about my business and suddenly realize that -Oops- I was supposed to do XYZ today.

When I was reading Leo's blog, something struck me.  I know I have said it before- but it's much easier said than done.  Who will take care of me if I don't take care of myself?  Don't get me wrong.  I don't discount all that my husband and my parents do for me when I am feeling ill, but it's not like they can quit smoking for me or lose the weight I need to lose or exercise for me.  They can't make sure I get enough sleep (though they try) or make sure I don't get so caught up that I forget to take my noon meds.  They can't make sure I don't do to much at work or at home.  Only I can do these things and because I want to be able to "do it all"- I tend to ignore me and my good intentions and just keep going.  I don't know how to overcome that part of myself.

It was the number 5 part of the article that I need to concentrate on: " Beat the urge to do the old bad habit".  In it they list the ways to do this but the most important thing is "Pay attention to the urges.  Urges win when you let them go unnoticed.  They have power.  Pay attention."  That made my light bulb go "click".  That is exactly what I do.  I don't pay attention and the next thing I know- I am right back in the midst of old habit.

I think it's time to break up my routine.  They suggest to find a replacement habit.  I think this is important because it's when I keep at my current routine that I blow whatever I am trying to accomplish.  Something to think about. Something to plan- and we know I like my plans.

If you are looking for positive ways to make changes to your life- I highly recommend the Zen Habits blog.  I get the feed sent to my email and I make the time to read it within a few hours of it hitting the inbox.  You can also follow Leo on Google+ (I am LOVING Google+) and on Twitter if you choose not to have it emailed to you.