Brenda Bedmaker™

I've been keeping up with my New Years Resolution perfectly so far. I just picked one small one.

My resolution is to make my bed every morning.

I've done it every day except for the days when my husband did it. Neither of us ever have made our bed, unless we were changing the sheets or had company coming, but he sleeps later than I do every morning, so I think there have been a few times when he felt guilty about it.

I didn't decide to do it because my room looks bigger when I do it, nor because my mother-in-law made an ugly comment to me about it during her last visit (I mean, really. She says it to me instead of her son?). And I didn't decide to do it for the act itself.

I tried to get into the habit, so I could build other habits.

There was that speech back in 2014 from Admiral McRaven where he talks about making your bed. He said (man, I wish SP would allow better formatting in the blogs...I need a block quote):

"Every morning in basic SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they would inspect was your bed. If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack — that's Navy talk for bed.

"It was a simple task — mundane at best. But every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle-hardened SEALs, but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.

"If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another."

So I figured, hey, I'll start making my bed. By doing that, I'll develop my new identity, Brenda Bedmaker™. Brenda Bedmaker™ does all sorts of other things. She plans her food the night before, she only eats that preplanned food. She stretches while watching TV and works on her posture. And Brenda Bedmaker™ is slender and fit.

But that isn't what is happening.

Instead, Brenda Bedmaker™ has become a much, much better housekeeper. Seriously! I actually almost hate to give examples, because really, I'm starting to think that we were criminally gross. But I'll try to give a couple examples that won't have you on the phone to CPS. I've started vacuuming several times a week instead of a few times a month. I clear and wipe down the table everyday. I put away the books and toys every evening. I put away all my potions and lotions when I'm done with them, keeping the bathroom counter clear. I've even noticed that if I clean the kitchen counter and later see a crumb there, I STOP AND PICK UP THE CRUMB.

This is so weird...but I like it. I like it a lot. And it really wasn't an unforeseeable consequence of becoming Brenda Bedmaker™. I just wish that it had spread into a more weight loss-y type snowball. But I guess I can go for another habit and see if that will do.

Meanwhile, my husband's New Years Resolution was to become Floss-Guy™. I don't know if that has had any ripples into other acts of self-care, but I bet it does. I'll ask when he wakes up.