The Second Time

One of my many oft shared observations about life is that it is relatively easy to declare your intention to start a new habit and then to have a good first day. The second time around is the first real test. Obviously, some things just won't work so they will blow up in your face from day one no matter what you do. Then there are those important things that just have to go well no matter what. I look at my first trip up to New York to see Melissa and me in-laws to be as an example of this. Everyone was on their best behavior (especially me) and I was willing to devote every resource I had to this including every last dollar I owned since I was still living with my parents.

The second time around was much harder. The second time, I was trying to do the job more efficiently so that I could continue it into the future. Judy, my mother-in-law, didn't hesitate to delay my travel for a day so that she could "clean up for me." (I've never had a problem with her housekeeping either then or now but that's what she said was going on.) My father didn't hesitate to fill that day with as much yard work as he could find so that I was exhausted as I left.

I guess instead of placing my importance on the second time being more difficult, it should be on how much more important it is. You cannot establish habits (good or bad) in a single day, you cannot know a trend from a single event and you cannot claim to have a routine if it only lasts one day. Therefore, I got out of bed at about 6 AM despite a bad night's sleep to take out the trash and take a walk. This time, it was only one bag of trash but much heavier and I decided to make the whole loop that my car odometer once called seven tenths of a mile. I'm calling it half a mile with the whole pedestrians on the sidewalk or the left side of the road which would be the inside of the loop. It's better to claim a lesser distance than to get cocky and fall flat on your face if someone tests you.

Now, I'm sucking down water as quickly as I can drink it comfortably in preparation for the rest of the day. The weather looks very much like one of those days when it will start raining and not stop for a couple of days but the forecast is calling for triple digit temperatures. If it clears up, I'm going to try to hit the pool again today. If it's raining, I don't plan to risk it. We live next to an airport so it's not easy to pick out thunder from all the jet noise. (Okay. The airport is down the road maybe a couple miles away but you get my point.)

The pool visit didn't go quite like I had hoped with laps being a problem. It was less my stamina than the degraded muscle memory making it hard to swim. My movements were uncoordinated so my strokes lacked all power. My instinct to keep my head above water was difficult to overcome as well so my bottom half was too far underwater for kicking to help much. Therefore, I couldn't do more than one lap at a time yet even that was physically and mentally draining.

Late Update (6/20: Things didn't go as planned or even close to it. I was exhausted after my bad night's sleep and half mile walk. I couldn't stay up until my planned nap time and slept until close to midnight. The excessive heat warning begins at 1 PM and I think I'll adjust to it a little for the rest of the day. I did complete my mile walk but it's humid out there and so I was ready to drop afterward. I'm planning to sleep early today because I'm wiped out after my walk. I might be ready to go to the pool near closing time because there's an adult swim afterward. I qualify as an adult.)