7 Days

At our family meeting today, munchkin boy came up with an interesting exercise. We've recently introduced ourselves to 30 days, a show we've been watching via Netflix where a person or a couple of people spend 30 days living in a culture outside their own. It's been interesting. Generating a lot of good conversation at the very least.

Munchkin boy thought it would be cool for each member of our family to try something different for a while. He decided 7 days would be an adequate amount of time. So we took turns making suggestions for each other regarding what each family member might give up or add to their regular routine for the coming week. The process was very interesting -- eye opening, in fact. All the suggestions were given via slips of paper, not much verbal discussion. Once each person got their suggestions, they reviewed and then selected their own "7 days" commitment. Each person could tweak or change a suggestion to fit their own preferences.

This wasn't necessarily an exercise to eliminate habits or create new and better habits. The idea was to simply to experience something differently for a week.

What I found really interesting was the theme that seemed to develop for each of us. For hubby, the suggestions mostly centered around food. Could he manage 7 days as a vegetarian, for instance. Almost overwhelmingly, I received suggestions for adding daily exercise to my routine. Munchkin boy received suggestions mostly related to computer and video games and room management (that would have been me). Middle munchkin's suggestions all involved night time and morning routines. Munchkin #1's suggestions were probably the most varied -- though she had a couple of computer and television suggestions, as well.

In spite of the fact that I got lots of encouragement to add some form of exercise into my routine daily (which is a great idea, just not necessarily a new experience since I frequently do have some sort of daily exercise routine in motion... just not at the moment), I went with the suggestion that seemed the most novel, because in fact, it is something I have not done for nearly 12 years now. It was suggested that I "wear jewelry every day" which I have chosen to interpret as "get dressed in the morning, as if you are prepared to meet the public."

I'm not actually in all-day-pajama mode these days since I generally walk the dogs each morning and that involves at least some level of warm clothing and a stocking cap this time of year. But my winter sweat pants have certainly seen their share of days and it's not unusual for me to slip on the same old sweatshirt day after day after day. So starting tomorrow I'm "dressing" for seven days in a row. Which means more than running a brush through my hair when it finally occurs to me at 5pm. I'm actually going to fix my hair each morning and put on coordinating clothes and yes... even some jewelry.

I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. I even have my outfit selected for tomorrow.