Resolution Check In: 15 days into it

29.366 | my resolution, simplified, originally uploaded by emdot.

Do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do. — Denzel Washington

The fifteenth already? My oh my how time flies.

I thought this would be a good time to check in.

How are you doing with your resolutions? Did you make any resolutions? How are you feeling about the new year?

Every year I seem to make about five New Year's resolutions, whether I want to or not. I will say that there is only one (like the time I gave up salt; or last year when I vowed to follow Getting Things Done), but there is always another one: silent, persistent, consistent, nagging: to get into shape.

Sometimes it changes names: get healthy. Lose weight. Work out. Eat right. But you know it always comes down to a numbers game: Weight x number of pounds.

This year it is no different. I have just one resolution and yet I still have that other silent one. But this year I'm tackling things a little more head on. A little more smartly.

I'm tackling the supporting characters.

Case in point. Clutter. "How you do one thing is how you do all things," said somebody smart. And I agree with that person. For me, extra weight is a type of clutter. A type of thing that I pushed off to the side to tackle another day, address another day, put away another day, deal with another day. And instead, just like papers, just like mail, just like little things that need to be put away, extra pounds creep in and gather around. In other words, how I do one thing is how I do all.

If I change how I do one thing will it change how I do all others?

We'll see. I decided to attack my physical, in-my-house clutter. Slowly but surely I'm doing this and there will probably be more about this in another post.

The other thing I'm doing is setting up my support systems.

You know how you decide to get to the gym every morning at 6 so you can get to work at 8? I totally do that and I haven't been successful at it for a really long time.

It's still my goal, but I'm strengthening support habits first. For instance: for the month of January I am getting up at 6:30 and getting to work at 8. No gym in there yet, but I'm building up to it. In February it will be up at 6 and work by 8. In March I'm moving on to morning work outs.

The other thing I'm doing is bringing my breakfast and lunch to work. Every day. This is pretty huge as I tend to be a buy-a-croissant-and-latte girl. A turkey-sandwich-from-the-deli girl. One, this adds up dollar-wise, and two this is a hard habit to break when you decide to go on a diet.

So, I'm bringing my own food for January and February. I won't tackle what type of food I'm bringing until later.

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I have to admit that this feels extremely wimpy. I should be strong enough to just jump in there and do it all right now. Get up. Get to the gym. Get to work. Eat healthy. Bring my own food. And make all those changes at once.

But you know what? It's never worked for me before. And I have tried. I have had the best intentions.

So this time, a new tack. Building a foundation.

15 days in and so far, so good.