Reboot Day 2

Lunch

It's 8:39am, and my herbal tea is steeping. I am so relieved to be on Day 2. I'm not gonna lie; the first day of any cleanse or fast is really tough. 

Yesterday began with so many good intentions and high hopes. Positive, self-affirming thoughts filled  me, and I drank my juices with feelings of gratitude for the micronutrients washing over my cells. Around 2pm, I was barraged with thoughts like these:

"Cheetos."

"Ben and Jerry's."

"Let's make eclairs."

"Let's run to the nearest Mexican restaurant." 

And then I would rein myself back in with thoughts of empowerment. Thoughts of admitting that the first day is the hardest and I've done this before. Reminding myself that it gets easier, and that I've already worked through half of the hard part, and how disappointing it would be to turn back now. Pay the price to feel the difference. Hang tight. 

The other struggle of the first day is how cloudy and scattered my mind becomes. I know the clarity will come, but initially, at least for me, I have a very hard time focusing on any one thing. My brain just can't settle down. I would sit and try to study, only to get restless and decide to go clean something, only to get distracted and start going through old papers, only to feel guilty about work that needs to be done in the garden, only to get hot and decide to come in drink water, only to. . .well, you get the picture. The meditation and inwardness of a cleanse is not really all that effective on Day 1. 

But hang in there.

Having gone through this before, I know to expect these feelings. Without that experience, I can completely understand why people throw in the towel early on. 

One of the tactics I came up with was to get out of the house to distract myself from the rest of the day. I had promised Aiden a desk for his room once Sean was no longer using the space in his bedroom. I thought, "Let's go to IKEA."

This was my major wrong decision of the day. (I chalk it up to the brain impairment of Day 1.)

Aiden wanted his friend to come along. Fine, fine, I like that kid. But I wanted to go around 3pm, and Aiden didn't get home until 5pm, which meant rush hour traffic (and a tractor trailer accident) on the 5 freeway, on a Friday evening. Then there's the parking situation at IKEA. I'll tell you what, that was designed by a man, for sure. 

By the time we got there, I had a migraine setting in and there were restaurants everywhere around us that smelled oh, so good! IKEA was a crowded maze, and Conor was over-exuberant, playing around with the two teen boys. I was such a grouch. We finally found our way to the desks, just in time for Conor to need to use the bathroom. But I did too (one of the frequent side-effects of juice cleansing). Winding our way back to the desk section we eventually decided on an inexpensive, but practical desk for Aiden and then began the journey to the warehouse (through the eternal Marketplace, where we just needed a simple desk lamp) only to find that the desk was out of stock. 

And we would need to come back tomorrow. 

Be still my soul. But, at least tomorrow won't be Day 1, I consoled myself. 

When we walked through the door at 8pm, I went right for my juicer. Lacinato kale, spinach, celery, a cucumber, a few carrots, a piece of ginger, half a lemon, and two green apples went in, and 30oz of gorgeous green juice came out. Dinner. 

Thankfully, the day was over. I'd done it. 

I slept deeply all night, and I didn't wake up from hunger, which was a nice surprise. In fact, this morning I feel happy and strong. I'm drinking my herbal tea and getting ready for my first juice of the day. So, here's to Day 2!