I sense a bout of self-improvement coming on. All the signs are there: Yesterday I parked my car downtown and walked to my errands, despite the cold. The day before, I chose salad for lunch. And today I shopped for new and exciting toiletries (e.g. a scary, unknown brand of mascara). Yup. I’m about to embark on a self-improvement binge.
This sounds like a good thing but, like ice cream in my freezer, it never lasts. Soon the soup cans will appear on my dresser, standing in as free weights for a nightly twelve-minute toning routine. I’ll vow to straighten the living room and put away clean dishes every single night, and actually intend to keep the promise — will find it easy to keep, in fact. For a few weeks I may even get really crazy and do my laundry before the basket overflows, though that would be pushing it.
It will probably culminate, as it usually does, in my buying a do-it-yourself Clairol kit and dyeing my hair auburn. Thank God so far I’ve had the good sense to use a 28-day dye each time, though it still obliterates my hard-earned natural highlights.
The biggest sign of reckless self-improvement would be easy to miss. I nearly did. But here it is: Today I bought makeup. The last time I so thoroughly replenished my supply, every store was ad-splashing the 2003 Back-to-School specials, and Hubbs and I were getting ready to take the big marriage plunge.
I brought my goodies home and dumped the plastic pharmacy bag on the kitchen counter, along with groceries and the video I picked up on my way to the library. Even now the sack of unopened cosmetics sits, hunched, in the darkened kitchen, its menacing presence hidden but still on my mind as I wonder if these colors will finally work the magic I’ve been wishing for. Will they make it worth my while to wake up early? Or, like their predecessors, will they make about a 1% difference, not enough to compensate for shut-eye lost? I’m voting for the latter and hoping for the former.
To complement my new beauty routine, I’m even thinking about dieting. And I know it’ll work for me, because I plan to use the same trick every successful dieter uses: I have a scheduled start date. Everyone knows that setting the date is half the battle. Yesterday I planned to start today but, well, that didn’t work out. I had leftover chocolate pie in the fridge, and it’s never a good idea to start a diet with that sort of disadvantage. Plus, I hate to see good breakfast food go to waste. So today I did my duty and polished off the pie. Took one for the team, if you will. I’ll start my diet tomorrow for certain.
Or, on second thought, maybe the next day. Tomorrow’s not good for me.
No matter what, though, I plan to keep flossing and taking my vitamins. Nothing can stop me now. I’m on a self-improvement roll.
my new diet is hardboiled egg whites. it’s low in calories and high in protein. i eat like 4 eggs a day (no yolks). i am trying to snack healthy and gain protein so i can grow muscles which can burn calories more easily. diets suck.
i also floss like crazy now. sometimes i feel that if i didn’t floss there is something stuck in my teeth. which most times, there is! what’s weird is sometimes i have to go through flossing twice, just to make sure i didn’t miss anything the first time around…
How funny! Over the weekend hubby and I decided we’d try and eat more healthily, in other words not stuff 20 different types of chocolate every night after dinner. So far it’s working and we’re eating lots of fruit but then again it’s only been a couple of days. Not sure I’ll last the week without getting some kind of chocky fix…
Jemima, that is an excellent point; we put more value both on what we have to pay for, and in how others see us, and the boot camp would satisfy both.
LOL, Kimberly! I only wish that were true!
So true, Bookbabie. And thanks for the makeup recommendation. I’ll have to take a look.
LOL, Larramie! Too bad it takes three weeks to make a habit, and just one minute to break it.
No Milk, that sounds like a great idea. I’ve heard egg whites have all sorts of nutrients.
Christina, good luck with that! I think it’s always easier to do this sort of thing in the summer, when there’s a lot of fresh fruit in season. Maybe we should just wait. You think?
hey Caryn,
start tomorrow!!! and then if you slip up just remember you can always start with the next meal. i’m running the marathon and trust me i splurge and fast and then splurge all over again but the key is learning to be balanced and still have the things you love in smaller portions. kudos to walking – its great exercise, me time and room to clear your head. i’m cheering you on from the sidelines.
Good point, 77free. In the long run I’m still better off starting earlier and slipping up a bit than splurging until I tell myself my diet starts. Plus, I start getting used to it.