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Positive Changes

Yesterday I mentioned in my blog post that I have decided to work on the Good Habits merit badge for Rebel Badge Club so today I thought I would go into more detail about my plan for this. The criteria for the badge is to decide on a change you wish to make in four areas of your life and create positive habits for yourself over a period of at least 90 days. The four areas are - life admin, health and fitness, household chores and self care.

The positive changes I am planning to make are as follows:

Life Admin  - Keep a diary to track how much money I am spending

I recently noticed that for the past few months I have been spending more than I have been earning! Luckily I have no credit card debt and have never used my overdraft so I must have been spending money that has been saved up in my bank account previously. I need to get this under control now especially with the cost of living crisis, Christmas approaching and a holiday to pay for that's been booked for my 40th birthday next year.

Health and Fitness - Regularly walk in nature or do yoga

My job keeps me active and requires me to do lots of heavy lifting and walking on a daily basis. I regularly clock up 15,000 - 20,000 steps on my Fitbit each day. Before I started this job over four years ago now, I was in office work for many years so lead a very sedentary lifestyle. The only thing exercise wise I did do back then was a little bit of walking and yoga. I did enjoy the yoga but since my activity levels have increased dramatically since then I haven't really done any. I would like to get back in the habit of doing yoga for extra health benefits, even if only completing a 20 minute routine each session. I would also like to walk in nature more often to get outside and into the fresh air.

Household Chores  - Keep on top of the washing and ironing

I don't know how my husband and I manage to create so much washing. There always seems to be a pile of washing dumped on the kitchen table waiting to be folded and put away. Towels are always hanging on airers and everytime I realise I had better do some ironing there is a huge mountain of clothing to tackle. I would like to get in the habit of putting any washing hanging around away and check my ironing pile more often so that it doesn't turn into a mammoth task!

Self Care - Spend time reading or listening to audiobooks

I regularly listen to podcasts when I'm having breakfast and getting ready for work (Dr Chatterjee's Feel Better, Live More and The Minimalists podcasts are my favourites). I'm in such a routine in the morning that I run on auto-pilot so have little problem focusing on listening to a podcast as I am getting ready. Aswell as a Spotify subscription, I also have an Audible subscription, a Kindle and a stack of hard copy books waiting to be read. I have a few credits built up on Audible to use, my Kindle hasn't been touched in a very long time and I don't see the point in having books on a shelf that aren't being read. I enjoy reading as it's a form of escapism and I also find it a source of inspiration. Reading also opens you up to new ideas, ways of thinking and seeing the world from other perspectives. There are a lot of positive benefits of reading. I intend to stop listening to podcasts as much (not that this is a bad thing) and make time to listen more to audiobooks. I would also like to spend time sitting down and reading on my Kindle or read an actual book rather than just listening to audiobooks as I am doing something else at the same time.

So from tomorrow I will begin incorporating the four positive habits into my life. My first task is to use one of my Audible credits and download The Power of Habit, as suggested by Charly Lester in the Rebel Badge Book.

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