My post for Fit is a Feminist Issue yesterday was all about how much I have enjoyed walking the dog at around the same time every day for the past week. Being consistent with my exercise is always a challenge for me so even a one week streak is a victory for me.

But, as pleased as I am with my streak, I am especially pleased with myself for heading out for my walk today.

It was raining – so that was one challenge.

I accidentally missed our usual walk time because I was in the middle of reorganizing my office – that was another challenge.

If I didn’t have that 7 day streak going, I probably would have just not gone this evening.

But I do have that streak happening. That means that the decision to go on a walk has essentially already been made, it just comes down to timing.

So, instead of choosing whether or not to go, I just looked at the shape of my evening and decided when I could fit our walk in.

Khalee and I headed out at 8:10 and even though it was dull and drizzly, it was grand to be out and we had a great time.

One of the things I wanted to do on that walk, aside from getting exercise, was to come up with something to write about this evening and this was what occurred to me.

I wanted to capture and remember this feeling of how my walk became even more automatic today – just part of the landscape of my day.

When I am coaching people about building new habits, I encourage people to find a way to take the thing they want to do out of the realm of choice. The example I always use is brushing your teeth – you may not feel like doing it, it may not be much fun, but it is important and it is part of your day, and, most of the time, you don’t waffle, you just do it.

Today, my walk was like brushing my teeth – the weather didn’t matter, the fact that it was later didn’t matter – my walk wasn’t about ‘if’ I was going to go, it was about when.

Go me!

(and Go Khalee! too, of course)