Habits...

Why oh why is it so hard to maintain a habit?

Whether I'm trying to break a bad habit or begin a good habit, I lack to will power to do either. Last week I maintained my 5am wake up routine Monday through Friday. I prayed my Rosary, I read my Bible. All was good. Yes, I may have dozed off a day or two while reading through Maccabees 1, but I got my butt out of bed at 5am.

Then the weekend hit. I still had my alarm set for 5am but I quickly turned it off rather than continue with my routine because, hey, it's the weekend! What I realize when I do not wake up earlier than everyone else is that I never get my quiet time to pray the Rosary or to read the Bible. Quiet time with three kids is short and far between, not enough time for me to confidently set myself up and get through my prayer routine.

I thought to myself, if I can keep it going Monday through Friday and take it easy on the weekends, I can still maintain my routine, right? Wrong. Oh, so wrong! It was even harder for me to wake up this morning and I did indeed turn off my alarm at 5am and did not get through my prayer routine. My three year old would not give me more than five minutes of quiet time.

I tell myself this everyday. I remind myself how hard it is to find time throughout the day if I do not get my prayers done early in the morning. Weekends cannot be an exception anymore if I want to do this right. If I want to seriously make a change, I cannot sacrifice two days to be selfish and think that I'll still be able to check off my daily routine. It's not going to happen.

Dave Ramsey has a quote that has been my moto the past few days: "Work is DOING it. Dedication is doing it EVERY DAY. Diligence is doing it WELL every day." It is not a Monday-Friday. It is EVERY DAY!