Another morning. Another cup of coffee. I woke with a song in my head. Yesterday was an okay day followed by a pleasant evening. Another peculiarly short night, though. I fell asleep, but woke shortly after, and read awhile until I was sleepy again – around midnight. I woke feeling a bit groggy, but sufficiently rested to push through another day.

I am thinking over some things I’d like to change (in my routine, in my environment, in my day-to-day experience of myself, or in my relationship). Success is dependent on practice, which leans hard on committing to a goal and a willingness to fail hard and begin again as often as necessary. It helps to set a careful well-considered pace to such things. Experience suggests a lot of “new year’s resolutions” fail because we are so prone to over-committing initially, then failing to practice. lol

One thing I definitely plan to work on is continuing to improve my approach to self-care and making a point to put myself at the top of my to-do list. Such a small thing – it sounds so easy. lol I regularly disappoint myself on this one, though. I’ll go out of my way to do some little thing for my Traveling Partner, but persist in short-changing myself when I shop, make decisions, and manage my time. It’s weird. I don’t think it’s unusual or uncommon, though. I’m not waiting on January 1st, either.

This year? I gave a lot of thought to something nice I could do for myself (that would have potential to be a nice quality of life boost generally, too) – I settled on a little something in the kitchen. I am enjoying improving my cooking. Decided to “level up” the quality of my pots and pans, as a token of my enjoyment, appreciation, and celebration of progress. “Something nice for myself.” Some careful shopping and a short wait later, and last night a couple of gleaming new beautiful high-quality stainless steel cookware items arrived, replacing the problematic non-stick cookware I’ve been using. Another sort of new beginning. 😀

…Even made in America…

I made additional commitments to myself:

  1. New cookware in? The old item it replaces goes out. (Non-negotiable)
  2. Any old non-stick cookware that isn’t used at least once in the next six months? It goes. (Clears clutter)
  3. Take the kind of care of the new stainless cookware that I aspire to take of myself. (Living metaphor to reinforce self-care practices)

Small things. Small changes. Practice leads to incremental change over time. 🙂 I smile and finish my coffee. This feels like progress. I think about dinner…

I begin again.