The Hectic Month of November

Why hectic, you might ask?  Sure, there is Thanksgiving (in the US) at the end of the month ... but that's about all, isn't it?

Well...that's true; at least it used to be true.  But that was before the advent of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month).  To add to the fun this year, I found   another gem to add to my collection:  The 21-day Self-Discipline Challenge, hosted by Serving Joyfully and Super Sweet Life.

You see, I haven't been disciplined enough in previous years to complete either NaNoWriMo, nor NaBloPoMo.  This year I am hoping to change that.  This year I am planning on changing that.  This year I am going to change that.

So, settling down to the Self-Discipline Challenge, for the first day we are to pick a small project that has been left undone.  I am rather spoiled for choice here, as there are so-o-o-o many around our apartment.  I chose my craft/computer table, over and under, which is placed in a corner of our living room by a window.  And, our dog Sneakers just had puppies (9 of them) starting shortly after midnight on Halloween, and we are going to move the little "puppy pen" out of the bedroom and under that table.

Shoot.  I was going to post a "before" picture, but am having trouble getting the picture from my phone to the computer.  I'll ask hubby when he gets up, as he is the computer whiz in the family.  And, as I've already started working on the mini-project, I will post before/after pics tomorrow.  It'll be the first time I've ever done that, because, let's face it, I am domestically challenged.

Picking a mega-project was hard for me.  There seems to be so many things in my life that need change:  making the choice to (and actually) stop smoking; completing NaNoWriMo; complete a full month of NaBloPoMo; organize our apartment sufficiently that we can actually have people in, set up an Etsy shop for my polymer clay beads and doodads, to name but a very few.

I'm going to stretch the concept a little.  What I mean is that cutting back on my smoking will be my main mega-project and if the self-discipline I develop during the course of the challenge happens to spill over into other projects, so much the better.  If that's the only project that gets completed in the 21 days, I'll be better off than I am now.

For today, I am just keeping track of how many cigarettes I smoke.  Since midnight, I have smoked 10 cigarettes.  As it is but 6:16 pm where I live, I know that total will increase.  My plan is to cut back by one cigarette per day until I no longer smoke.  Tomorrow I will come up with a list of other activities I can do instead of smoking.

One thing I have noticed today, is that a lot of time, my desire to smoke will increase when I am bored or stressed, with a heavy emphasis on the latter.  If anyone has any good stress-reduction tips, I could sure use them; feel free to comment below with something that works to reduce your stress.

Happy trails!