Habit Forming

As a New Year's resolution my wife decided that she was going to live healthier this year and by she, she meant we.  For the month of January I did not focus on diet or exercise.  Instead I focused on making sure I took my medication every morning.

I have a tendency to forget to take my meds.  I have tried a number of memory tricks to help remember and would often be successful for a few days until something changed my routine.  Which is why I chose to focus on just one aspect of healthier living.

It is believed it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a habit.  Taking my pills seems to have fallen at the lower end.  Not only have I taken my meds every day for 31 days, I am conscientiously remembering that I need to.

My primary goal for living healthier in February is to do the same thing with insulin management.  It will likely take me a little longer to form this habit as I take insulin, on average, four times daily instead of once like my pills.  My biggest issue with insulin is remembering to take it with me when we go out to eat or worse forgetting to bring it back from the car when we get home.

For example, I have two insulin pens to take to the pharmacy to be disposed of that I put in the car for the return trip from our son's graduation in may.  I remembered to grab them when we started talking about healthier living in January.