Just walk the dog
I have a new dog. His name is Flash and he is a 6 month old poodle. There are days when his bad behaviour causes me to question why I got a dog, but in our time together there are lessons I am learning. One of the lessons he has taught me is the power of “just walking the dog.”
Previous to getting our little darling pup, Flash, I had a typical routine to my day, filled with kids stuff, work stuff and life stuff. There was little time for outdoors stuff, for exercise stuff and me stuff. Flash changed this. Not because he was a helper but because his needs required that I change my pattern.
I learned that his behaviour would be tremendously improved if I could just take him for a walk once in the morning and once at night. It didn’t have to be a long walk, just a regular walk, quick but consistently executed. If I took him for a walk every morning he was bearable, he didn’t chew on the carpet, eat the stuffies, drive us crazy. If I took him for an evening walk he didn’t pee on the floor, didn’t cry and slept through the night. His overall behaviour was better. But I began to notice that he was not the only person who benefited from the daily walk.
I did! My walking Flash everyday for his improved behaviour, established a positive habit for me. As a result of this little routine, I got outside, I got my 10,000 steps, and my mood improved. To top this experience off, I started to listen to audiobooks and podcasts during the walks, something I really really enjoyed. This little habit began to really set the pace of my day. If we walked in the morning both of our days were better and this reality was not lost on me.
In his book Atomic Habits James Clear talks about the benefits of positive habits, he describes how to create them and the impact positive or negative habits can have on your life, particularly over time. Positive habits can form a system or ritual that makes your life more structured and can help you reach your goals or just live a more present and fulfilling life. Negative habits deter you from your goals and often produce end results you do not desire. This concept and creating a practice is desirable and in my opinion worth investigating. Who doesn’t want to find a strategy to build healthy habits?
Full disclosure, there are days when I struggle to maintain my daily routine. I have bad days, I have sad days, and some days I don’t feel like going outside. Sometimes it is raining where I live, sometimes it is pouring. But the truth is we all have positive habits that are key in maintaining our personal balance and if we cling to them, execute them on the bad days they help us. They become important parts of our daily cycle and the more positive habits we have the more balanced we will feel.
In the dark moments, when you are having a bad day, or just struggling to find your rhythm do you have any habits or rituals that help? What are your good habits? Can you name them? Are there any grounding activities in your day that just help to give you a new start or fresh beginning? What are these grounding activities that can help turn your day around?
To flip this switch on this discussion, are there negative habits that trigger you or become barriers to your success? For the record I have like 100 of these. But ask yourself are there things you do that just make you sadder? mader?
Flash is not perfect. Krista is not perfect. That is OK. We are both trying, we are both enjoying our lives and we are both learning. We are learning that the positive habits we have are pleasurable, helpful and grounding.
There is no magical wand to fix the challenges in your life but there might be little pieces to the puzzle that make things a little bit better. In the challenging moments cling to the little things and on the days when you are struggling try and “just walk the dog”. It could help. #Flashapproved
