Habit Plan Final Reflection
My main goal for my habit plan was to get a better night’s sleep. I identified three things I could begin doing that would help me to this.
Put devices/screens away before bedtime
Read book in the middle of the night (don’t look at screens)
Transition my son into his own bed
Over the last month, I have discovered that habits are hard to change! I have successfully managed to put my devices away an hour before going to sleep. I have found that there are more rewards to this than just getting a better night’s sleep. I have enjoyed snuggling, reading, and giving my attention to my son, Rowan during this time. I think it is a much healthier way to end my day and calm my mind down. If I read before I sleep, I am usually looking at my phone and my mind is buzzing with ideas and thoughts. This makes it difficult for me to fall asleep. This was the easiest habit for me to change.
The relationships around us are important to the success or failure of habit changing. If my son was sick, or especially clingy, that made it difficult to get a good night's sleep. He would wake up more often and require my attention. I stopped looking at devices in the middle of the night, and I think that has helped me get back to sleep faster. Instead, I replaced reading from my phone with reading from a book at night.
The most difficult habit to change was having my son sleep in his own bed. This required breaking my habits as well as his. I would like to approach changing this habit again at a later time, because he is currently going through separation anxiety, which is normal for his age. I am hopeful after he becomes more secure in himself, he will handle our nighttime separation better.
After this experience, my husband and I have decided that we are going to identify habits that we can change together. I think if we start doing this as a team, we will be more likely to develop new healthy habits. With encouragement and a common goal, I think we would be more likely to find success and develop habits that we can be proud of!
