When I did this cleanse last year, I had set up a list of goals and reasons I'm doing the cleanse. So I thought that it would be good to write all of that stuff down again because this year's reasons are different from last year's.
After I finished my cleanse last year, I decided to end my dependence on caffeine. I had a coke once and a green tea a few times. But no coffee. No soda. After that I decided that I would repeat the cleanse once a year and every time I would finish minus my dependence on something else. So here are the options this year:
FAST FOOD
CIGARETTES
SUGAR
RED MEAT
It would be one or more of those things. Last year I decided to not plan anything important during my cleanse. I did it after my birthday. I didn't have any major trips planned. This year I have my anniversary with The Drummer on Wednesday. I'm going to Santa Clara to work on a project for four days. So I'm going to have to really be good about it this time around. And life can't stop because I'm on a cleanse, also I can't just give up on my cleanse if I'm travelling or on vacation. So I'm adding some different challenges this year.
Okay...so here's why I'm repeating my cleanse again this year:
Last year I felt so good and energized in the months after the cleanse. But of course I reintroduced different foods into my life and I noticed that my energy became a little more up and down, but not as bad as when I was on caffeine. So this year, I'm looking at my relationship to sugar. I don't know if I would completely give sugar up, but I do know that I can't be as thoughtless about it.
I have a lot of goals to accomplish in 2012. Last year was about rebuilding after the break up. I had to get my life together again. And a lot of last year was about letting go. The cleanse fit into that because I was focused on the idea of empty calories. If I'm concerned about the things I'm putting into my body and being thought out and planned out about that, it becomes a great metaphor for the people and experiences that I allow myself to have in my life. I can't be thoughtless about that any more. So I want to refocus on that a bit. I think I did great this year with being aware of what was going into my body, but I loosened my rules because I also try to enjoy food.
One of the lasting effects of last year's cleanse was the immunity. I haven't gotten sick in a year. So this is a good time to re up that immunity. It's like renewing my AAA membership. I'm renewing my coverage for 2012.
I want to recommit myself to discipline. If I'm going to be planned out and thought out about my diet, then I need to do the same about excercise and I need to do the same with my writing. I need to have a plan. I need to be on a schedule. I need to make time to prepare. Because when you're not prepared on the cleanse, then you start eating shit you shouldn't because you are in a hurry and you choose conveinence over health. I think that's true for when you're not prepared in your life. So this year I want those three aspects to really integrate and work together.
The wonderful thing is that I have a partner who's committed to the same things. I have to do all of these things for myself, but my boyfriend wants the same things for himself so I'm not in an environment where my needs and wants are in conflict with his, even though mine are different. And I don't want to make myself responsible for him dealing with his shit. That is his own separate journey.
So I want to use this cleanse as a template for how prepared I need to be in the rest of my life in two significant areas of my life: exercise and work. Two areas, by the way, that I always flip flop between. I have been notorious for saying I can't do both at the same time. I've been better about it in recent years, but historically when I was working out, I wasn't writing and vice versa.
So with the exercise, here are my goals:
I want to work out every other day at the gym. I just got this app that the Drummer turned me onto called Virtual Gym. It gives you an 80 minute full body workout. I do that every other day. In addition, I am going to run in the days between. I want to get the boyfriend running as well. But that's a separate thing.
Then I'm going to detox my skin and go to the Korean Spa at least twice a week. The last time I did this cleanse, everyone remarked about how great my skin looked. So I'm ready to make that happen again. The funny thing about my face in the past twelve months is that I look younger than I have in years...and I already look young.
With the writing, I'm going to have a schedule as well. My friend Kevin said something inspiring last week when I emailed him to make plans to see each other. He said that he wasn't doing anything in January and that I had to wait until February because he was writing. Okay, I thought. I need to adopt that attitude. And I will. I'm having a challenging time because the boyfriend is on a musician's schedule. But I have my laptop and I can take off and write in the mornings if I need to. But if I'm writing every day for a set amount of time, I will easily get the scripts written that I need to get written.
And I will gauge my progress day to day on the same scale I had last time.
Energy
Attitude
Excercise
and one more thing I have to look up.
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