At the beginning of this year, I started tracking several habits. These included:

• Going to the gym
• Getting 8K steps
• Reading
• Meditating
• Not shopping
• Socializing
• Not eating sweet treats
• Playing the piano

This list made sense for my life at the time. I was still very newly postpartum, with so much fresh anxiety about my health and recovery, and wanted to focus on exercise and eating well. I also wanted to get back to the habits that served me well pre-baby and took me out of “mom mode” for a bit, like talking to friends, reading books, playing piano.

I hate to harp on this point, but the postpartum period was difficult! I liked the idea of setting goals and tracking my progress toward them, but it also, on some days, became a point of stress, especially when I dwelled on the goals that I wasn’t checking off.
There was also some ambiguity in this list – if I bought groceries, did that count as “not shopping”? Did “socializing” only refer to in-person meetups, or was it OK if I just sent a reaction in the group chat?

After a few months, I re-evaluated my habits list and cut it down to the following:

• Gym and/or 8K steps
• Reading
• Meditating
• Playing the piano
• Writing

So far, this new list is going well! I’ve created new, positive habits based off of my desire to check them off, like ending my workouts with a meditation, listening to more audiobooks than I ever have before, and setting this daily summer writing challenge. Playing the piano has been the most difficult to fit in but most rewarding of the bunch; my long-term goal is to stay sharp enough that I can still play when my daughter is old enough to encourage her to learn on her own. That goal is still years away, but it doesn’t hurt to build a foundation now!