There was a stretch of a few years where, every night, I did 10 push-ups before bed.
10 doesn’t seem like a lot. Actually, to rephrase: It isn’t a lot! It takes less than a minute to complete.
I started doing those nightly push-ups as a way to remind myself that every day, even if I was busy, I could do something small to take care of myself. And yet: I still managed to fall out of the habit of doing it.
What I’ve learned is that it takes a really long time to build a habit, and not all that long to break the habit. That’s been true for anything I’ve wanted to do, from reading more to learning a language.
It’s easy to start, and it’s easy to quit.
It’s hard to keep going.
There’s always another priority: Work, family, a thousand little errands. Something else ends up higher on the to-do list.
But I have to remind myself — and I’m writing this at the moment to remind myself — that it’s OK to make time for yourself. We all have to.
So if you’ll excuse me: I’m off to go to a few push-ups before bed.
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That is a photo of someone doing a push-up with form I really need to study. It was taken by Monika Kab for Unsplash.