Sparkling Blackberry Lemonade
Have you ever tried to change a habit? It’s amazing how hard it is! I find it exhausting and I often give up, feeling ashamed of myself for my lack of willpower. After thinking back on what habits I have tried to change in the past and why I have failed, I have concluded that I try to do too much too quickly. I have tried to lose weight (vague I know), drink less wine, exercise more, take better care of my skin, etc. I realize that the things I was hoping to change about myself were not specific and did not focus on habits. Changing habits allows us to make real and lasting progress towards large goals, but how do we start?
This week I am focusing on one habit: drink 90 ounces of water per day. I never drink water! It is a terrible habit that I must get under control. Usually, I drink iced coffee, iced tea and wine. How I am not a shriveled up raisin, I will never know! If I can make drinking water throughout the day a habit, I might drink less of the things that dehydrate me and cause weight gain (iced coffee with half and half and wine). Also, I will save money by not going to the coffee shop for my $3.25 cold brew and $11.99 for my favorite wine!
How will I create this new habit, you may ask? I found an app for my phone called Habitica (this is not a sponsored post, just something I am testing out). The app allows you to add habits that you want to keep track of everyday. It ranks them as positive or negative, so in my case drinking 90 ounces of water is a positive and drinking wine is a negative. You check in everyday and click on if you did (or did not) do the thing you are trying to make a habit. My plan is to start with drinking water this week and move on to stretching 10 minutes in the morning next week.
From everything I have read about habits (read The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business), it takes anywhere from three to six months for a habit to become instinctual. My thought here is, it took me years to develop these bad habits and it might take me years to change them. At least I recognize aspects of my behavior that I want to change and am doing something about it. Slow, steady and mindful is my new mantra. I have failed to succeed in the past because I wanted quick fixes to my problems. This time, success may be measured in years, not weeks!
What habits would you like to change? Have you tried a habit tracker app that works for you and you want to share? Let’s start a dialogue about habits! Please leave your ideas in the comments below.
Sparkling Blackberry Lemonade
Author: Jodi Boatman Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook time: 0 Minutes
Total Time: 15 Minutes Yields: 10 Servings
Ingredients:
8 medium lemons
2 TSP stevia powder
1 C blackberries
8 C sparkling water
mint for garnish
Instructions:
To make the lemonade squeeze the juice from 7 of the lemons and juice to a large pitcher. Make sure that you keep any of the seeds from getting into the pitcher.
Add stevia to the lemon juice and whisk until combined.
Add blackberries to the pitcher and with a large wooden spoon, mash until you have released some of the juice from the blackberries.
Add sparkling water and stir to combine.
Slice the remaining lemon and add to the pitcher.
Serve with ice and mint for a garnish.
Makes ten 8 oz drinks.
