I’m wide awake at an hour when I should be sleeping. We had pretty strong afternoon storms today and lost power for a couple of hours. I was home alone and made an unwise decision to nap on the couch, so here I sit.

Habits fascinate me. I am super inspired by people who come by these habit things so easily, because that is not me.

That said, over the years I have actually created some habits that have served me well. I don’t get crazy with the tracking, but I do pay attention.

Most of my habits revolve around exercise. Those are more or less on autopilot. I walk daily, and most days hit at least 10,000 steps. I recently got a walking pad and a ridiculous weighted vest, and that has made my walking habit easier. I try to walk some outdoors every day, but in the South Georgia July heat it’s good to have an indoor option and has kept me more consistent.

I’ve been an athlete my entire life. I did gymnastics until I was eleven and grew tall and leggy. I played baseball and softball but dropped those sports in middle school to focus on my true love, basketball. I picked up tennis in high school because my basketball coach made us play a spring sport, and my options were tennis or track, and I really didn’t love track. I ran track in middle school, but I always had to do what I call the world’s worst runs – the 1600m or the mile, the 800m, the 400m and the 4×400 relays. None of those runs were ever over quickly, and I felt like I was gonna die the entire time. Okay, I was slightly dramatic, but you get the idea. I was pretty fast on the 800m and 400m, so I got stuck there.

I had an opportunity to play basketball in college, but I decided against it to focus on my, um, studies. In hindsight, the structure that basketball provides would have helped me.

Sports were excellent for me because they instilled the habit of showing up and training. To this day I credit my regular exercise habits to things I learned through sports.

I still play tennis. My mother was right when she encouraged me to play tennis – it’s a sport you can play pretty much forever if you take good care of yourself.

I play on several adult tennis teams. I play mostly doubles, but I still play some singles as well. I have a standing team clinic every Tuesday and Wednesday, so again with the habits. Those regular clinics ensure that I get a minimum of two hours of tennis training each week. An added bonus is the social interaction. It forces me to get out and meet other people, something I don’t always want to do as somewhat of an introvert.

Additionally, I do a couple of tennis-specific workouts each week with weights along with footwork drills.

The habit that I started a couple of years ago is one I am most pleased with. I do thirty pushups and thirty squats/lunges every day. I had my ACL repaired in 2024. It was a surgery I had needed for a long time. Georgia girls have no business on black diamond ski slopes… but that’s a story for another day.

The surgery sidelined me for six months, and for someone as hyperactive as I am, it was rough. Six months on the couch left me pretty out of shape, and it was a slow climb back to a decent level of physical fitness. I expected my legs to be weak, but I was shocked at how much upper body strength I lost. That was when I committed to doing the thirty daily pushups. I could barely do five on my knees when I started. Now I mostly do them on my toes, usually in three separate sets of ten. I’m not super obsessive about how I do them, but I get them done. It’s all about the habit. Somedays I do them all on my knees, and I’m good with that. Same with the squats/lunges. Some days I use weights; other days I don’t. The habit is what’s important.

Another non-exercise habit I have is writing daily. I write, but I’ve gotten out of the habit of blogging, and I’ve missed it, so I’ve set a goal to blog for thirty days in a row. So many of you inspire me with your daily posts. I’m excited to get back to it.

One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I can’t get too obsessive with this whole habit thing. I guess I actually do have habits; I just prefer that my habits are self-imposed. Please don’t tell me to make it a habit. I’ll tell myself that thank you very much! I’ve also learned over the years that I have to leave myself a little room for error, knowing that if I miss a day here or there that it’s okay. I can jump back into it the next day. Missing a day doesn’t mean I throw in the towel. I give myself grace and keep on moving forward. That’s simply life.

What are your habits? Do you like creating habits, or do you fight it like I do?

Please tell! I love to learn how different people operate. It fascinates me.