+ Yay! It’s a new month which means a new monthly habit and a recap of last month’s. These monthly experiments help me build healthy habits, break unhealthy ones or just learn more about myself so I can figure out what’s really essential!

Something I've learned is that it’s easier to make a change if you’re aware of and measuring your actions surrounding it. Getting out of debt? Record where all of your money goes. Getting in shape? Track your workouts and progress. The act of recording keeps you on task and creates some accountability while the change over time, even if slow, helps keep you motivated.

The same is true for food and dieting. When trying to lose weight, keeping a food journal has been shown to not only double the amount of weight loss but also to help keep it off. This awareness is huge in shifting habits. It’s harder to eat a second dessert if you know you're going to record it.

The goal this month is a little different for us. This is at Greg's request. He wants to experiment with keeping a food journal. We don’t have an ideal outcome and are mostly curious to see what comes up. Will this added accountability cause any shifts? Will we eat differently if we have to write everything down? Perhaps we’ll make a discovery a week or two in and design a goal then?

Since Greg usually puts up with my silly or even selfish monthly experiments, I’m joining in. I don’t have a great relationship with food diaries as my experience has been limited to strict elimination diets and gestational diabetes. Will I feel different about it if I’m not reporting to doctors? Honestly, I’ve been putting so much energy into Peanut’s solid food that a little effort into my diet might be nice. And I love meal planning!

Are you down for Food Journal February? What if this habit is more useful than most diet rules? I would take journaling over low-carb any day ;)

Reflections on our January Habit: Slow the F Down:
Overall, life is feeling a bit more manageable these days. For the month of January, we intentionally created space by practicing a weekly Sabbath, leaving the weekends open, and postponing most classes and socializing.

At first, saying “No” and delaying events was a little awkward. There’s a voice that tells me we need to socialize! Community is so important! But I’m a better person when I have more alone time and intimate family time. I feel so much more engaged and present. We were more ourselves this month and were more aware when outings or groups wouldn't suit us. What a great feeling.

Things were of course still hectic on and off! We continued to struggle with getting enough sleep, plus there were outings, projects, protests, and general life with a baby.

Will life ever feel slow again? I'm accepting the transition into life with a child. Shockingly, I’m not as rested as I was with 12 hours of sleep a night while pregnant ;p I am fortunate to still have space in my life but now there’s a new normal. Hopefully, the lessons of this experiment will stick with us for a while. It seems like around here they are the key to having fewer harried days.