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ary-se · 4 years ago

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Mankai with a cat

a few months ago, our cat scratched me right on my cheek and my first thought out of all things was "what if mankai had a cat" pls get me out of this brainrot 😣

on a side note, this got way TOO LONG so i'm putting it under the cut!! this also works as an apology since i was gone for too long without notice 🙇‍♀️ as always, thank you for reading!

🐾 having a pet for the dorm was a subject mankai always brought up. it definitely sounds like a good idea for a domestic setting, but actually getting a pet is out of the question. sakyo didn't allow it due to obvious reasons, and of course it involved the company's budget.

🐾 there was one time however when muku and yuki went back to the dorms with a white stray cat that had a sprain. that time, sakyo would've given them a lecture like usual, but he gave in anyways and told them that they can foster the cat and they'll let it go after its leg gets better.

🐾 unfortunately for sakyo, everyone got way too attached to the cat before its sprain healed, and sakyo also adored the cat but of course he wouldn't openly admit that. after a week, when the cat got better, it only took a few buttons to push before sakyo agreed to finally keeping the cat, under the condition that they are not getting another pet again.

🐾 no one knew who started calling the cat koko, though it just seemed so natural that everybody else started to follow suit, which was pretty convenient because they didn't have to fight over the cat's name when mankai will finally keep her as a pet. (fun fact coco is the name of our cat)

🐾 that week, tenma deadass acted like an expecting father having his very first child, it was really unnerving to see. taichi and juza would often join tenma in shopping for random cat toys after school, which usually lasts longer than girls shopping for a singular pair of heels and that already says a lot

🐾 the conversation usually goes like this

tenma: "what's the best color for this toy mouse?"

taichi: "i like the red one!"

juza: "that's fine too."

tenma, after 10 minutes: "i see, i'll just buy all 7 colors"

🐾 tenma spoiled koko a LOT. teasers? balls? lasers? plushies? you name it, and tenma literally had them in ALL available colors. he did not really care if some of the toys remained untouched, as long as koko had something to be busy with. tenma had a huge ass box of cat toys that he could open up his own damn store and he'd get a lot of profit

🐾 tasuku literally had no idea why, but koko never scratched anywhere but his legs. is there some sort of magic on his legs?? if there was, it wasn't something tasuku is aware of, and he isn't sure if he wants to know what it is either.

🐾 it actually didn't hurt or anything, it just annoyed him when he needs to go somewhere else and the cat would just pounce to his direction to scratch his legs. tasuku feels bad on walking away, so all he does is stand up and wait until koko is done scratching his leg so he can finally move on.

🐾 when a scratching post was delivered to the dorm, koko has been all over it ever since. when tasuku noticed that koko never scratched on his legs anymore, it then just occurred to him that koko used his legs as a temporary scratching post. if he was being conpletely honest, he doesn't know how to feel about this.

🐾 know the meme of people making their babies choose their pokemon starter? that's what itaru did to koko, except he used the figurines of his waifus instead of pokemon plushies. he'd carry koko to the table, and the figurine koko will knock over would determine who her best girl supposedly is.

🐾 what he didn't know was that koko wouldn't knock one figurine over, but ALL FIVE OF THEM, and they all went rolling from the table and fell down to the floor. he swore that one of the figurines easily gets broken since its glasses came off at some point, and until that moment his trust towards animals has never been tested so bad. gladly, none of the figurines broke so koko is not yet in itaru's hit list.

🐾 even with all the toys tenma showered her with, koko finds itaru's hair on a ponytail very entertaining. itaru doesn't really mind koko messing with his hair as long as his gaming stays uninterrupted, though he gets annoyed when koko pulls a part of his hair too hard. he also somehow gets pissed whenever his hairtie falls off during a crucial moment, but he doesn't have the heart to get mad at koko so he lets her off the hook for so many times.

🐾 if omi is already such a mom to mankai, he is even more of a mom to koko. there is a sack of cat kibbles stored away for weeks, but it still remains untouched up to this day because omi always whip up homemade meals for her.

🐾 there was a time when omi cooked up turkey, mashed potatoes and corn for koko's dinner, but he didn't prepare anything for the actual human beings in mankai. omi was just like, "oh haha, there is leftover curry in the fridge. we probably should finish that first"

🐾 in other words, koko isn't subjected to curry hell. never. cats actually aren't supposed to eat curry or else something would happen. even if cats were allowed to eat curry though, it is highly doubtful that omi will make koko eat curry on a daily basis. if omi is an actual mom, everyone would collectively agree that the favorite child is koko. no buts, no questions asked, that's it.

🐾 it was a given that cats don't like water, so everyone was really surprised when they learned that koko LOVES water. the first time they learned it was when sakuya went to wash the dishes like usual, only for koko to literally pounce by the sink. she waits for sakuya to turn on the faucet and everytime sakuya does, she just sticks her paw out to the water until he turns it off. it was an adorable sight.

🐾 it definitely made sakuya slower on washing the dishes, but he does not really mind one bit, he actually enjoys the company. he opted to use a bit more dishwashing soap after he noticed that koko also liked to play with the excessive foam and bubbles on the sink whenever he finishes doing the dishes.

🐾 everyone in mankai, especially sakuya, already made it a habit to call out to koko whenever they're about to do the dishes so koko wouldn't have to wait for the sound of the faucet before running to the sink. it already is a routine every after mealtime.

🐾 was it already mentioned that koko likes water? yes. whenever the boys get in the bath, koko also joins in the damn tub and REFUSES to leave. after some time, the boys already accepted it and just let the cat stay in the tub, losing their sense of privacy in the process. they also bought little rubber duckies and those bubble bath products so koko can play around with the excessive amount of bubbles and the rubber duckies in the tub.

🐾 there was one time when omi woke up super early to prepare breakfast, though he went to the bathroom first and nearly shit on his pants when he saw koko in the empty tub. no koko, he isn't going to fill the tub with water if you just stay there. get out of there and sleep in your own damn bed.

🐾 koko also follows anyone who is on their way to the bathroom, ALWAYS assuming that they'll fill up the tub every time they do get in the bathroom. sorry to break this to you koko, but taichi wouldn't get in the bathroom 8 times a day to take a bath every single time, he just really wants to pee... please give him a break

🐾 koko always joins tsumugi when he is in the garden, though it was only because she wants to drink on the water coming out of tsumugi's watering can. when there are water droplets on the leaves, she climbs up and licks them off. unfortunately, it is one of the reasons why tsumugi started to yell on a daily basis, "KOKO NO THAT PLANT IS POISONOUS DON'T LICK THAT—"

🐾 tsumugi wouldn't have to warn koko forever though, since she'd eventually memorize what plants are poisonous and what are not. sometimes, after tsumugi is done watering the plants, he'd fill the watering can with water again just so koko would get in the can and chill for who knows how long.

🐾 koko is attached to muku for obvious reasons (he picked her up when she was injured!!) so koko is often in their shared room with kazunari. sadly, there was a time when muku took a break from reading the shoujo manga to grab some water, and when he got back, koko was already tearing it into pieces.

🐾 muku did not get angry at koko, but the cat knew something was wrong when muku was trying to stop himself from crying that koko already knew not to tear any of muku's books in the future. koko still felt really bad about it even after muku bought a new copy of that specific volume.

🐾 whenever kazunari is rushing an art project that is to be passed the next day, muku holds koko close to him so koko wouldn't be able to somehow ruin the painting. there has already been an instance wherein koko stepped all over the painting when muku and kazunari wasn't in the room, and that better not happen ever again.

🐾 gladly, kazunari was calm about it and found a way to fix the blue pawprints all over the white paint, but only god knows what will happen once koko messes up the painting again when kazunari is getting SO close to breaking down because of the deadline.

🐾 there are times when kazunari prefers to eat bread with charcoal and drink his paint water than having koko step all over his artwork, and muku better make sure kazunari does none of that

🐾 banri is unfortunately one of those people who pretends to be a dick around their pets. more often than he would admit, he'd act like he is about to throw a punch to koko, only to actually give it gentle pats on the head. banri throwing the cat mid-air and catching her is already a common sight, too.

🐾 he finds it funny scaring koko in all sorts of ways, especially when it comes to heights. banri would carry koko up high, and pretend to drop her just to catch the cat again. sakyo has reprimanded him a lot of times regarding this situation, but he brushes it off.

🐾 there was one time however when banri just carries koko up high and stays that way. the cat was literally scared shitless of being high up on mid-air unmoving, she literally had no choice but to piss right on banri's face. ever since that time, banri toned down his tendencies of teasing the cat

🐾 koko ALWAYS sleeps with hisoka. it doesn't matter where, will it on top of the sink? on the tree? below the table of the living room? you name it, and you see koko and hisoka stuck to each other like glue. somehow it feels like koko became a replacement of penpen. the poor stuffed toy probably got messed up by the cat, waiting to finally get fixed in yuki's room

🐾 koko got hisoka's habit of sleeping literally everywhere that it became really concerning. there was a time when tsuzuru noticed that koko was nowhere to be found, and everyone went batshit looking at her all over the city. even sakyo got mad at everyone because they weren't keeping an eye out of the cat while everybody else is gone. after how many hours of searching, turns out the cat was just sleeping inside the fucking washing machine

🐾 funny enough, taichi and koko have the SAME eyes. like, actual striking blue. taichi usually carries her and parades around the dorm, announcing the news to everyone even though he has said it for like the 83rd time that day. nobody really minds though, the coincidence is still too unreal. the quote "like pet, like owner" doesn't really apply to koko and taichi though, because if anything, it feels more like comparing a cat to a puppy

🐾 taichi is also the one who plays with koko the most, which solely meant that he also used the cat toys tenma bought as much as the cat herself did. at this point, it wouldn't be wrong if they said that the toys were bought for BOTH koko and taichi because even taichi sometimes finds entertainment in using the teaser by himself whenever the cat is being held by somebody else.

🐾 as much as yuki refuses to admit it, he actually gets concerned when koko climbs up in all sorts of countertops, because that would mean koko would also NOT hesitate to climb up to his sewing machine. he is already meticulous when it comes to his materials for sewing, but even moreso now.

🐾 every after yuki finishes sewing, he tightly encloses the sewing machine with a case so that the cat wouldn't get to touch it and potentially get hurt. yuki also used to just leave his sewing materials on the desk, but nowadays he actually keeps them into somewhere secure so as to not harm anybody. he can't have koko's paws bleeding just because of some damn pin that rolled on the floor

🐾 yuki also somehow feels bad when he drives the cat away from him by force every time he is working on the costumes for the next play. he doesn't know what the cat is thinking, but he hopes that koko knows he is just trying not to actually make her bleed over some needles. as a repayment, yuki lets koko bother him all she wants whenever he does his homework with muku.

🐾 since masumi always used to be alone at home, he always thought of the possibility of adopting a pet cat that would keep him company. that constant thought he had already dissipated when he started living in the mankai dorm, so when they decided to take koko in, he remembered the specific reasons why he wanted to own a cat.

🐾 he never let anyone willingly in his personal bubble except for the cat, which he accepted pretty easily. masumi also found it kind of amusing to blast songs on shuffle from his phone because koko had her own way of showing if she likes the song or not. if she likes it, she doesn't do anything. if koko doesn't, she taps her paw on his phone a lot of times as if telling him to change the song. most of the time, masumi obliges.

🐾 every time tsuzuru opens the fridge really late at night, he has to double check if koko is inside the fridge or not before he closes it. there was one time when he didn't notice koko get in the fridge while getting energy drinks. the cat pretty much stayed in there for hours and hours until omi opened the fridge to make breakfast. tsuzuru was lectured by sakyo that morning because he would be ultimately responsible if the cat died in the fridge from freezing her ass off

🐾 whenever tsuzuru gets in a writing frenzy, koko keeps him company late at night. unfortunately for tsuzuru, if he stops typing for at least 10 seconds, koko takes that as a sign to pounce on his keyboard and just lay down there. tsuzuru already knew better than to carry her away from his keyboard since the cat will be insistent enough to return to his keyboard, so he usually gives up and goes to bed, saving the ideas in his head for the next time he wakes up.

🐾 because of that, every time tsuzuru finishes a script for the next play, his tendencies of passing out right after handing the script to somebody else significantly lessens. tsuzuru doesn't know if the cat is just trying to be annoying or if she just wants him to get some sleep, but either way he doesn't really mind because he gets to stop himself from overworking. well sorta

🐾 juza almost never approaches koko. like never. it feels like he is openly avoiding the cat for some apparent reason, and nobody knows why, but in reality he is just scared as shit of the damn cat. what if koko gets mad at him? what if she suddenly gets aggressive and scratches him? honey you're way bigger than her, and koko wouldn't hurt you... really it's okay

🐾 juza's way of offering affection to the cat is to give her some portions of his meal during dinner, sometimes breakfast. he tries to be sneaky about it, but he legitimately has no idea that everyone knows. it becomes more obvious when koko already made it a habit to sit on the chair behind juza every meal time to get more food. that still happens even after omi just filled up her fucking bowl. nobody comments about it though, they find it hilarious

🐾 koko always tries to test homare's patience, but for some reason homare literally doesn't give a single fuck. every time he is writing something down, high chances are koko would spread the ink all over his paper. sometimes she'd try to crawl her way in his coat sleeve, and homare, he just....... doesn't mind.

🐾 if homare is actually busy however, he'd take out his necktie from his vest if koko doesn't want to leave his lap. most of the time, she actually plays with it like it's a teaser. homare is fine if the necktie gets destroyed, he has a lot of neckties in his closet and some of them are specifically for the purpose of koko messing with them

🐾 not to mention that he also finds it really amusing that koko gets overly excited when it comes to lasers. homare is curious why this would be the case, so he usually uses the laser to play with koko when he has free time. he doesn't think of where he points the laser though, so his wooden desk ends up having a lot of scratches. again, he knows and he doesn't care in the slightest.

🐾 misumi adores koko so much. her ears are triangles, her paws are triangle, her nose is triangle. she is a fucking triangle. with the help of kazunari, he already has a whole album of koko's best pictures in polaroid films. most of them are in a photo book so that everyone has a physical copy to look at, while some of them are taped on misumi's wall. the ones on misumi's room are particularly the ones where her ears are especially prominent.

🐾 at least twice or thrice a week, misumi brings koko out of the dorm and brings her to other groups of stray cats that misumi deems trustworthy. nothing bad happens to koko gladly, because only god knows what would happen once misumi's instincts tell him something horrible is about to happen to their pet cat, and they're always spot on

🐾 citron has ZERO sense of personal space when it comes to koko. citron would literally touch koko anywhere, thinking she is fine with it. unfortunately, there are times when citron pets koko on parts she doesn't want to be touched, particularly the tail and the area around it. citron's hands always end up covered in scratches. over time, he memorized where he should and shouldn't touch like the back of his hand

🐾 citron made a koko jr. which was completely intended to be for display purposes. the cat saw it as a new mouse toy however, so it didn't take a whole day for koko jr. to look like a ball of messed up wool. it doesn't look like a damn cat anymore, though it passes as an extremely fluffy and distorted alpaca

🐾 sakyo never shows affection to the cat. no pets, no strokes, nothing. the most he does to koko is spare her a glance, and sometimes he even glares at her from a distance when sakyo gets too absorbed in his thoughts... despite that, everyone wonders why every time sakyo comes home, she gets more energetic greeting him compared to how she'd greet the rest of the boys when they come back to the dorm

🐾 azuma knows. he would sometimes stay up for late night talks with sakyo, and through their conversations that's when azuma learns how much sakyo cares. azuma often helps sakyo out on trimming koko's nails when they're getting kind of long, trying to be as careful as possible so as to not hurt her.

🐾 azuma is also amused at the fact that sakyo tries to ignore koko resting on his lap, or when he pretends not to notice the cat trying to slip in the pockets of his coat. knowing sakyo, he'll definitely complain about the white fur on his black coat later on. as funny as it is, azuma knows better than to say a word about it.

🐾 before kazunari realized it, his camera roll is pretty much filled with random pictures of koko. most of them are just derp pictures, though... kazunari captures her weird quirks, like how she likes to fall asleep with all fours spread out like a starfish, or how she constantly make noises on the door stopper if she wants to get in the room. the picture with koko's most horrified face on it was when banri threw her high up mid-air, and that is never going to get deleted.

🐾 they find everything the cat does very adorable, even though she is just drinking water from her bowl. or when her tongue gets stuck on the ice tray omi brought out from the fridge. or when she yawns and taichi sticks a finger in her mouth and she doesn't know what to do next. or when she squints her eyes at homare when he gets in a blabbering rampage. literally everything.

🐾 at some point, kazunari thought it'd be a good idea to have those cat tunnels mounted on walls so there will be more room for koko to play. he just said it out of nowhere, but everyone agreed on that idea. after a week or two, the whole dorm is basically a cat playground with a crapton of shelves, slides, and tunnels on the walls, save for the practice room, bathroom, and the bedrooms.

🐾 did sakyo said that they are never, ever getting another pet after koko? yeah right, there's no way that's actually happening. high chances are they got more cats so that the cat playground they all built together will get utilized. the more, the merrier!! even though sakyo complains a lot about the expenses, they all know he isn't against the idea, though they better not tease him for it or sakyo will definitely take it back

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cosmosogler · 7 years ago

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woke up super late again. i completely wiped myself out yesterday. i had dreams that i wanted to talk about while i was having them but i didn’t remember them after i woke up. just that i wanted to talk about them. so that left me in a fine pickle.

cat adoption will be on saturday. the animal services shelter does not hold animals so it’s all same-day adoption stuff.

today we did some shopping and i checked in with the counseling department and stuff and got their contact info. we got back to the room around 3:30 and i forced myself to mostly lay down and chill out for the whole afternoon. it was storming anyway, being out and about would have been miserable and loud with the thunder. now it’s 11!!!!

mom and i had dinner at the hotel again. we talked about the dogs the whole time. i do really miss eve. i wish she could have seen the ocean even if she wouldn’t have liked it very much. traveling more than a day trip would be too hard for her now. heck, bringing her up to sedona which is an hour’s drive would be too hard, especially this time of year when it’s so hot. with animals i always feel like i need to cram just one more adventure into their short lives... maybe with an old cat she’ll just want a warm lap to sit in. i can provide that for her at least.

tomorrow i’m finishing up all/most of my hiring stuff and we’ll do one more round of shopping for things we remembered over the last two days. like actual glass cups for my kitchen and not just two plastic ones. feels weird to do... house stuff. i’m still getting used to it.

i can tell i’m too tired and too stressed because my brain goes weird places when i’m not keeping myself super occupied. death places. being in mother’s presence at all times is absolutely exhausting. i have not been more than ten feet away from her for more than five minutes at a time in six days now. her comments on my weight and appetite and diet are fraying my nerves.

like all her congratulations on how much weight i’ve lost due to my serious gallbladder issues is ALWAYS accompanied by a warning about “stuffing myself” and gaining it back. when my appetite flags during mealtimes mom tries to get me to stop eating, even when i can tell that i did not eat enough food to get me to the next meal. she says i have more energy not because i’m eating more, but because i’m “lighter.”

while at the store today my stitches started really hurting. i have to take it easy physically until saturday. or friday depending on what the apartment complex says about signing my lease early.

i can tell i am very worried about starting grad school because i just haven’t been doing anything i need to do tonight. i haven’t checked my email other than when we got back to the room like seven hours ago. i haven’t looked at my welcome packet or employment paperwork or campus safety work or the orientation schedule or the bus routes. kinda freaked out by the prospect. kinda suspicious that i will get four days into orientation and then get kicked out when it comes time to actually do some physics. i know i’m not ready. i haven’t prepared. because being stressed makes me avoid the thing that stresses me out i guess? instead of eliminating the stress by preparing better or taking care of the problem?? i don’t understand why my brain isn’t using logic for motivation here.

mother keeps suggesting new hobbies for me to pick up. like collecting clothespin magnets and painting them. i don’t understand why when i express interest in something mom reminds me that “if you’re putting your full effort into grad school you won’t have time for that” but if i completely ignore something she turns it into a time-consuming and expensive hobby suggestion for me to potentially spend all my free time on.

today she also did that thing where i’ll be talking to someone else and she’ll interrupt me to say something she thinks i “forgot” to say, but either had decided not to say or am literally halfway through saying it. like ordering food!

there’s also been a lot of asking me a question, then when i answer asking it again impatiently. or i’ll answer a question and she’ll start giving other options after i’ve made a decision. or she’ll complain about being lost (and blame me for not giving her good directions) less than a second before the road sign becomes visible. that happens like clockwork.

i dunno. i guess that when i have beef with one parent my view toward the other becomes “softer” somehow, like “oh, since dad grabbed me in the dark and has refused to apologize for over a month, mom can’t be THAT bad!” but that line of thinking gets me nowhere. what dad does has no bearing on what mom does except when she tries to get me to “understand” his point of view better. i’ve had to catch the train of thought and remind myself multiple times that just because dad became worse (more threatening, more physically dangerous) than mom doesn’t mean mom isn’t just as bad (more exhausting, more emotionally taxing) as always. i guess it feels like she’s easier to deal with because i am familiar ENOUGH with her thought patterns that i can navigate conversations with her and selectively shut down topics so that we don’t argue a lot. she just says really passive aggressive stuff and i have to deal with that. but not arguing much.

dad became... harder to read very suddenly. like i realized the things i had thought were wrong and that put me in very unfamiliar territory with him. unfamiliar territory, especially dark dangerous waters like “is he going to physically hurt me or not,” is horrible for me and i hate dealing with it. i deal with it by cutting it off. by comparison mother seems downright friendly, even though i know in my heart that she is not. my brain just wants so badly to relax. my brain wants to start gushing about things i like with people who (might, sometimes) listen. there is nothing that the stupid social comedian side of me finds more appealing than a captive audience. and it gets me into trouble always, all the time, forever.

mom likes the adventure zone. for now. i have been feigning ignorance about some of the later stuff. like all the gay that gets everywhere. mom will drop that series like it’s hot if/when she gets to it. but if i pretend i went into the story completely blind, instead of mostly blind, i can pretend i didn’t know and thus she can’t be mad at me about it. then i can love it, and love the gay, quietly in peace and she can’t do nothin about it.

but at least, in the meantime, since i have kept quiet about what i actually know and hopefully my ignorance is convincing, we had something to listen to in the car together and that time was spent not arguing. i have to try to enjoy the not-arguing without letting my guard for potential arguing down.

feigning closeness by only talking about a few pre-approved topics and in approved ways is exhausting. i do it with new friends too. even with old friends! micromanage the way i compose myself in my relationships. it’s not a good time. but it’s the only way i know how to do it. maybe that’s bad. i think that might have been what my outpatient therapist at the hospital was getting at. the walls i put up, the weird boundaries that are either too distant or not there at all.

sometimes i think about the characters i relate to most. i wonder if people view me the way they view those characters, if maybe it’s more frustrating in person, if i hurt them the way those characters hurt their friends. i wonder if they like and care about me the way those characters’ friends like and care about them, the way fans talk about those characters.

probably not.

i think about the differences between the person i am and the person i want to be. and how frustrating it is to hit those weird walls where i am not the person i want to be, and i can’t be, unless i practice at it a whole lot and throw some safety out the window. my living space is cluttered with safety. at what point did i collect all this goopy, gunky, sticky safety? what’s getting out of your comfort zone, and what’s straight up dangerous? safety says those two are the same thing and that makes it hard to move forward.

it’s easier to take pets on adventures than it is to take myself on adventures.

that’s a weird mishmash though. not quite an accurate comparison. i do feel safer going on adventures with a pet though. that way i’m not alone.

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givencontext · 6 years ago

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Excellence is Not an Act, It’s a Habit

This adage from Aristotle gets kicked around a lot. We all want to be Excellent, right? Then again, some of us want to spend a lot of our time watching Star Trek reruns. I have to believe that there is space in my life for both.

At my previous job, I had this quote posted at my desk. I had that job for a long time, so I am not sure when my fascination with habits started, but I began following James Clear and Gretchen Rubin several years ago. I just finished the audiobook of James’s new book Atomic Habits. I plan to put this on my list of books to read/listen to at least once a year. This would put it on par with some of the books that have been most influential in my life. Stay tuned for another post covering that list of books in more detail. (Note to self: link back to this.)

Be Excellent

As the habit gurus explain, if you want to be something, it is a good idea to identify exactly what that something means to you. For the sake of argument, let’s say that I do, in fact, want to be excellent. What will that look like for me?

Authenticity – I want to show up as myself – whatever that means today. As discussed in this post where I expressed my desire to embrace inconsistency, my moods tend to change, and I want to be a person who is growing and learning. It is important for me to be able to bring whatever comes up today to the table.

Balance – Can we get back to Star Trek reruns now? I need downtime. Much of the advice we get for “how to be excellent” revolves around an endless to-do list. Yes, I have one of these, but I sometimes go several days without looking at it. I recently talked about working with lunar cycles. This is a great tool for recognizing the natural cycles and patterns that take place in our lives. You see, balance is not about being perfectly even-keeled, all day, every day. Balance is about the long view. I try to spend approximately as much time on one end of the spectrum as I do the other… and I try not to get to the extreme ends of that spectrum. Another buzzword for this strategy is Self-Care. More on that below when I get to some actual habits.

Connection – Before I joined Bright Line Eating, I did not give this one enough credence. I have some really awesome friends, but I always had a tendency to keep my connections limited. I was “selectively social,” as one personality assessment put it. In the past few years, I have branched out and tried to connect with more people in ways that speak to some of the different areas of my life that need connection and support. This ties closely to points one and two by providing a network full of people ready to give me a boost in whatever direction I need.

Nearly anything that I want to do with my life can be tied back to one of these core values. If it can’t, I will finagle it until it fits or else it probably isn’t important.

Time for Habits

What are the habits I use for my personal brand of Excellence? These are a few of mine, and of course, they are constantly evolving.

Morning Routine

I pride myself on being flexible, easy-going, and not being hooked on consistency. BUT. I do find that my life runs more smoothly when I have a good morning routine. A routine consists of several habits. This is a good place to make use of the Atomic Habits idea of “habit stacking.” You can tie a new habit you want to implement to something you already do. I am an annoying morning person, so my day is front-loaded with many of the things I consider important.

Tracking

I use my Rituals for Living Dreambook and Planner to track my four top priority habits (B,W,M,T.) I also use my Nightly Checklist to track a more extensive list of habits. Let’s start with the Big 4.

B,W,M,T

This is my code that I write along the bottom of my planner to remind me to check off my four primary habits each day: Bright Lines, Writing, Meditation, Tap.

Bright Lines

I am a Bright Lifer. This means I follow the Bright Line Eating plan. I get a check mark in my planner for each day that I follow all four of the Bright Lines: No Sugar, No Flour, Eat only at mealtimes, Eat my planned, weighed, and measured portions.

Writing

Ideally, I would work on my blog every day. That is not always the case. The habit gods tell me it is more important to do something consistently than to do it perfectly, so I try to write something every day. I fall behind even writing a few lines in my Five Year Journal daily. Writing is important to me, so I will keep tracking and working towards that consistency.

Meditation

This is one of my favorite habits, but is also one that is first to slip when life gets crazy. It should be an easy one to keep when I travel, but it tends to slip there too. My husband is used to hearing me do guided meditations from YouTube, but recently I have done more “snooze button” silent meditations. I never actually get back to sleep when I hit snooze, so this is a good chance to get centered and focus on my breath before I ever get out of bed. Nine minutes of meditation counts!

Tap

One of my strategies for dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome was to find things to keep me busy. One day my oldest kid (22) tagged me in a Facebook post from her life-long dance studio. They would be offering an adult tap class on Wednesday nights. Years ago, when I was at the studio with her anyway, I had taken a “moms” hip hop class. I am not a good dancer. However, as previously mentioned, I am an annoying morning person, which also means��. I LOVE TO MAKE NOISE! Tap dancing classes are perfect! Not to mention that my kid could take these classes with me, so it double-bills as Quality Time (her love language,) a chance to grab a midweek meal together after class, and (oh yeah) activity. My kid is a flipping *WIZARD* at tap dancing. She was seriously born to tap. Somehow she was born out of my womb and… I do NOT have the aforementioned mad skills. I suck. So the last of my priority habits is to practice my tap steps every damn day. If I do it for one minute, I give myself credit.

Nightly Checklist

Each of the Big Four are in my Nightly Checklist as well, but this contains several other things. Admittedly, some of these are “nice to have.” I do not expect myself to have 100% on this checklist every day. In fact, I rarely do, but if I want to achieve something, I find that putting it here helps.

Short inspirational reading

Meditation

Read a positive reminder

Plan tomorrow’s meals

Post in online support community

Gratitude Journal (I have multiple locations for this, but only doing this doesn’t get me a check mark for “Writing” above.)

Track hours slept (not so accurate since my Fitbit died)

Kept my Bright Lines (individual check boxes)

Physical therapy exercises

5 year journal

Artist’s Way (I keep falling off this one)

Morning Pages

Read a Shakespearean Sonnet

Write for my blog

Declutter

Tap!

Complete my Nightly Checklist!

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