I've started reading books again, which is a good thing

For many years I described myself as a reader. Which was fine if you ignore the fact I wasn't doing much actual reading.

I was more of an "intended reader." I wanted to read books, but I never made much time for it.

All of that has changed over the last 12 months. It started last fall with me (finally) establishing and maintaining a morning Bible reading routine and has expanded to include the array of non-fiction books I keep in my home office.

More specifically, non-fiction history books. And even more specifically, books about World War I and historically related subjects.

I don't solely read WW1 books, of course – I'm currently working through a biography of Calvin Coolidge – but I do read a lot of them.

My Great War library expanded exponentially when my friend Bill Ross started giving me boxes of books. He knows where my historical interests lay, and he has generously given of his own extensive library to bolster mine.

The problem is, it's going to take years and years to read all of the books he has sent my way. Then again, there is no deadline for getting through them short of my own demise, which I presume to be many years down the line.

So, one at a time, I'm happily reading my way through the list.

If you're a reader or wanna-be reader, I recommend the Goodreads app. It allows you to post the books you're reading, the ones you want to read, and reviews of the ones you've finished. More interestingly, it also connects you with friends, family and other like-minded readers to see what's on their bedside tables at any given time.

Reading is inherently a solitary pursuit, but I think it's more enjoyable when you introduce a social aspect to it.

Unfortunately, I've found exactly one person who wants to start a World War I book club.

And that person is me.

I'll keep searching.

And reading.

Three things I've learned about getting rid of bad habits and instilling new ones

Who here knows why we have a picture of Ed Sheeran at the top of this post?

There was a period of about 15 years from the mid-2000s until late 2021 when I was addicted to nose drops. I've blogged about it before.

In case you're not familiar, nose drops are nasal spray that, rather than being forcefully shot up your nose, are instead drizzled into your nostrils via what is essentially an eyedropper. They have the same chemical composition as nasal spray, and thus they have the same potential to cause what is known medically as "rebound congestion."

Rebound congestion is when you become dependent on nose drops/spray to breathe clearly. There was a time when I was pouring nose drops into my sinuses seven or eight times a day every day, just so I wouldn't feel stuffy. It's a frustrating physical (and somewhat mental) addiction.

I briefly broke the habit for a few months in 2015, but as I recall, I picked up a minor cold at some point that year and went right back to using them. And I continued using them nonstop for another six years.

It wasn't until November 2021, when my son Jared and I were on a visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and the local CVS was out of nose drops, that I entered my second recovery period. I couldn't get my hands on any, so I went without and allowed myself to be stuffy and miserable for a couple of weeks before things eventually cleared up and I could breathe again on my own without pharmaceutical assistance.

I have not touched a bottle of nose drops in the 21 months since. I've had a stuffy nose a couple of times, but I've just lived with it rather than dropping $10 a week (sometimes more) on liquid phenylephrine hydrochloride.

I can't guarantee I'll never again be dependent on nose drops in order to breathe, but to the extent I can feel "cured," I do. It gets easier and easier as time goes on.

I use this as an example of a bad habit I've overcome in my life. There are a few others, though thankfully none have involved illegal substances. I can't speak to that sort of addiction.

What I can say is that I've learned at least three things when it comes to dropping bad habits and picking up new ones. Maybe these will resonate with you:

(1) You're probably going to fail, and that's OK.
As someone with an all-or-nothing personality, my tendency when I experience failure is to throw in the towel. If I can't be perfect, I sometimes give up. This makes shedding bad habits that much more difficult. Whatever you're trying to stop yourself from doing, you would be a rare individual if you didn't stumble a time or two. Or three. Or more. You're likely to regress, at least a little, but so what? Get back up and start over. Then start over again if you have to. And start over a third time if necessary. Unless it's something life-threatening, there's no timeline for success here. Keep at it.

(2) Know yourself, know your motivations.
I talk all the time about the fact that I'm a checklist guy. I like to put stuff on a list, accomplish it, and check it off. For many years I tried to become an everyday Bible reader, but I would usually miss a few days for whatever reason and then quit trying. I'm now coming up on nearly a year of reading the Bible every morning, and one of the reasons is a simple, somewhat silly one: Each day when I finish my reading, I check a box. That's it, I just check a little box. I love checking that box. Even if I'm short on time in the morning before work, I'll get my reading in just to check that box. BUT...what I noticed is that, over time, I fell in love with the text more than the checks. I no longer read to earn a checkmark, I read to grow my faith, which a much better reason for Bible reading than simply completing a task. I knew myself and I knew that, at the outset anyway, the daily checkmark would help. It did.

(3) I realize this is cliché, but it's usually a one-day-at-a-time thing.
Whether you're picking up a new habit or dropping an old one, all that matters is how you go at it today. If, for example, you're trying to lose weight and have a work trip coming up that's going to make it challenging to eat healthy, that shouldn't be your focus right now. Your focus today is today. It's what strategies you're going to use to regulate your food intake and make good choices between now and bedtime. The vacation or work trip will take care of itself when you get there. It's fine to plan it out a little in advance, but don't lose your focus or motivation when it comes to today. Long-term success is sometimes little more than an accumulation of small daily wins. Trust me when I tell you, you've got this today. And that's all that matters.

Make health my hobby? No thank you.

I used to read a lot of health and wellness books. These are books that tell you, in minute detail, what you need to do to live a long life with the maximum number of "quality" years.

These books spell out how you should eat, what exercise you need to do, how you should manage stress, what you need to do to keep your brain young, etc.

I once figured out (this is true) that if I were to implement everything these books told me to do in order to achieve optimal health, I would have to get up every morning at something like 3:00 a.m. to fit it all in. I'm not kidding.

Going under the assumption that my evenings are too packed and unpredictable to regularly schedule any sort of exercise or self-improvement activities, I need to relegate health and wellness solely to the morning hours. And if I were truly doing everything I'm supposed to do in order to be a robust, happy person, I would need like three or four hours every morning.

That list would include (but is certainly not limited to):

• Aerobic exercise
• Strength training
• Flexibility exercises
• Balance exercises
• Brain building (i.e., learn something new, like say a language you don't know)
• Bible reading
• Meditation/breathing exercises
• Breakfast (THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY...they think)
• Brushing and flossing
• Something else I'm sure I'm forgetting

I don't have the time to do all of those things, so I do some of them. And I'm fine with it.

I haven't always been fine with it, by the way. For several years, I agonized over not hitting 10,000 steps every day, not lifting weights, not learning Tai Chi, not stretching, not not not not not not. I was so about what I was "not" doing that I never recognized all the good things I WAS doing.

I once read a book in which a doctor suggested making your health your hobby. The implication was that your spare time should be spent learning and implementing all of the things that science and personal experience show to be good for your body, mind and general well-being.

Which is great, except that in spending so much time trying to build a better life, you leave yourself no time to actually live that life.

So I've finally (FINALLY) learned to do the best that my schedule and self-discipline will allow and to be happy with that. And I'm so relieved. All of the "nots" above were, ironically, killing me. Now I feel so much more content.

In case you're wondering, I do get out and run four days a week, and it's never for more than a half hour at a time. I don't lift weights, I don't stretch, I don't meditate. I DO read the Bible daily now and I DO eat breakfast, brush and floss without fail.

And I feel great. The burden of having to be perfect with my health was too much.

It only took me five years or so to get that through my thick head.