Today I had Honey Bunches of Oats cereal with skim milk for breakfast. Yesterday, same thing, and even the day before that. It's also what I had every single morning for breakfast for about the last two years. Never have a met a cereal I could tolerate every morning for more than a couple months at a time; those Honey Bunches of Oats people are fucking geniuses.
I've already devolved to writing about what I had for breakfast to introduce a theme that's been with me in the last couple weeks of moving, that is, the erosion and eventual stripping of all my day-to-day habits (for the most part). I stopped my near-daily exercising (no gym in the car). I stopped consuming caffeine with regularity (i.e., had coffee about once every two hours on the road, but not often at all while at rest). I stopped shaving every other day. I brushed my teeth when I damn well felt like it, which was probably still once a day but never at the same time!! I stopped checking my e-mail every ten minutes like an addict. I stopped eating fiber almost entirely, I think (including my awesome Honey Bunches of Oat supplement, sadly). I stopped going to bed at 10:30 sharp every night. I'm sure there are more things I stopped doing that, when summed up, describe what an outlandishly boring life I had, but you get the idea--things I did, whether good or bad, they all dried up in two weeks.
So I get here to Raleigh and have a golden opportunity to start all new habits... and I start eating Honey Bunches of Oats again. Well, that I don't regret too much, that shit is tasty. I was conscious of this new "power," though, so I thought I'd try to introduce some good habits I'd been holding back on in the past. Flossing is always a tough one to get going, so I'm working on that. I guess Windexing my bathroom mirror nightly is going to have to follow, lest it begin to look like a starfield screensaver. Shaving every morning is another, and I've had to fight to do that a mere three days running. Making food at home--oh, chore--so far, not bad, though it's Wednesday night and I've already run low on groceries. You get the idea. New, good habits.
So what would you do? Given the opportunity to completely destabilize your life for a couple weeks, how would you pick up the pieces? What would you go back to? Mind you, as I don't have a job yet, keeping a consistent schedule has not been important. When I do find a job, well... so long flossing, perhaps? I mean, that's two minutes I could be doing... work. Or eating Honey Bunches of Oats. That shit is just unreal, like a crunchy, six and a half minute, low-level orgasm. Can you imagine if I ate it with whole milk? Talk about a habit.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
For a 2-month period, oh, ten years ago, I had HBoO every day. I can't eat it anymore. It was great during that time, but now I bet every characteristic that you love about it, I hate. Even after a decade, my system is still overloaded! However, I do eat cereal every day and have no complaints. I've taken to mixing a bunch of cereals, which I always thought my dad was weird for doing.
Up at UBC last month, I ate Shreddies for 2 weeks, bought a jumbo box to bring back, and have since added them to the mix. If Shreddies were sold in the States, I'd probably overload!
Speacking of UBC for 2 weeks: during this "destabilized" time I tried to reinstate sketching in the ol' sketchbook every day. It sort of worked, but turned into journalling and odd little "self help" comics just for me. This has all since disappeared now that I'm back.
Moving out here, I had lofty goals for improving my habits. But in a new environment I think sometimes we automatically go back to the comfy ones in order to stay sane. The new environment is a HUGE new habit in itself!! My lofty goals now, a year+ later, are at about 37% completion. :\ It's a constant effort. I'm finally reaching my goal of getting up early, but this is entirely because I have a new puppy to tend to!! I'm convinced that outside forces are the only way to change some habits.
Oh, and flossing you just have to DO. After about 2 weeks of being good, you will reach a point where your mouth feels absolutely unclean without flossing. Then you can lord it over everyone that *of course* you floss every day, what disgusting slob wouldn't?! It's great!
If you want to shake things up, bro, see if they have Bumpers at your local grocery store. They're an all-natural (I can't say that means healthy) peanut butter captain crunch substitute. I mix them with Shredded Spoonfuls for an interesting effect. Screw flossing, just get hooked on the Bumpers.
I'm also somewhat destabilized at the moment, 3 weeks without a daily routine. Already things are going to hell. Jessica's about ready to kick me out of the house... Just wait until September when I'm there every day as part of my new routine!
I think I'll stay with the HBoO until it wears me out! It will be a good mini revolution to one day just decide, hey, that's it for HBoO. Then I'll look into the Bumpers. Having multiple boxes of cereal open at once has never worked for me, sadly, and is not a great idea down here in the humid south... unless you like really soggy cereal. I don't. If it ain't crispy, it's not cereal anymore.
Post a Comment