I sat on my ass all day yesterday and when I finally got up, it was to move to a bar to play board games with friends, eat sweet potato fries and drink Shirley Temples. Today, I did the same thing, minus actually leaving the house.

Does this sound like someone who is living a healthy lifestyle?

No, it sounds like someone who has yet to accept that the time to start changing my lifestyle is now. It's been over three weeks since I made a pledge to myself in my grandmother's hospital room that I would be a healthier, happier person and yet I have done nothing to move towards that goal.

It's time I accept the fact that sitting on my ass all day is far from productive – even if I'm working. It's time I accept that sweet potato fries are not a viable dinner option – even if sweet potatoes are good for you. It's time I accept that my house and office are not going to clean themselves – even if I snap my fingers like in Mary Poppins. And most importantly, it's time I accept that the time to change is now – even if I am scared to start.

Sometimes, when I'm having a particularly obstinate tantrum against doing something, I ask myself these two famous questions:

• If not me, then who?
• If not now, then when?

This works for everything from taking out that trash to writing my novel, that is if I remember to ask myself. Most of the time, I just jump over the questions and on to the couch, where I develop detailed plans for how I'm going to get everything done in my life that I want to get done, instead of actually just doing it.

I've spent more time trying to figure out how to write than I actually have to writing. Same goes for time spent attempting to convince friends to help me clean my house, time spent making detailed workout plans and time spent looking up healthy recipes to make some other time when I have more time.

I plan so much of my future that I end up wasting the present.

So, I've decided that step two in A Healthy Challenge© needs to be acceptance. Not the kind of personal acceptance that comes with the forgiveness in step one, but acceptance that I'm actually doing this now, not just planning it for my future. Acceptance that the time to clean my house, organize my room, meditate every morning, stretch every night, get outside every day, move my body for at least 30 minutes twice a day, eat healthy wholesome foods, laugh continuously and read instead of watch TV is now.

Because if not now, then when? If not me, then who?

 

[Article originally posted at SinfulMisadventures.com, a site dedicated to the Seven Deadly Sins.]