What is Project Seventh Day?

Welcome to Project Seventh Day.  I’m glad you’re reading this blog, but right up front I have a confession to make.

It’s not for you.  Sorry.

Project Seventh Day is a personal blog chronicling my “self-improvement” (for lack of a better term) project for the year.  The blog is for me – to provide accountability, an outlet for my thoughts, and a place to document what I’m doing.  Initially, I wasn’t going to tell other people about my “project” at all.  I was afraid of failure, afraid of sharing this part of my life.  But the more I thought, prayed, and talked about it, the more I felt like maybe if  I was willing to be vulnerable and let other people know what’s going on with me, they could be helped or encouraged in some way.  So there it is.  The blog is for me, but it’s for you too.  I hope that you will enjoy following my progress, and that it will encourage you to make some progress of your own.

To begin, let me explain how this whole thing came about.

2010 was a crappy year.  There’s really no other way to put that.  Aside from the birth of my beautiful son (which was a challenge in and of itself!), not much happened that I care to dwell on.  So needless to say, I was ready for the beginning of this year.  I needed a fresh start, a do-over, a new beginning.  There were so many things that I wanted to be different about the next year, that it was difficult to get a handle on all of them.  As I thought about it all, I decided to combine all of my “resolutions” into one project.  Ultimately it boils down to being a healthier person, but some of the individual goals include eating healthier and exercising regularly (yes, I’m talking about losing weight!), pressing into my relationship with the Lord, improving my emotional health, and enjoying my relationships more.  There were also some silly little goals, like washing my face every night before I go to bed, taking my vitamins daily, shaving my legs more often, and not letting my husband run out of clean underwear!    But even the silly goals have a purpose in Project Seventh Day.

You’re probably wondering about the name.  Allow me to explain!

Over the holidays, my family and I were spending some time with my husband’s dad and step-mom at their home in the Dallas area.  I knew that when we went home, I would need to begin my new-healthy-me lifestyle, but I was enjoying the last few days of indulgent food and lazy living thoroughly.  One afternoon, I was perusing a cookbook (The Pioneer Woman Cooks - go get it!) and I started to feed defeated before I even began.  I wanted to cook every recipe in the cookbook.  And none of them were healthy.   I love to cook.  I love to make delicious, not-good-for-you, melt-in your mouth food that people want seconds and thirds of.  I got new cookware for Christmas.  And I wasn’t going to be able to to enjoy any of that anymore, because I had resolved to be “healthy.”  I was sad!

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn’t need to walk in defeat before I even started healthy living.  There was a way to have the best of both worlds.  I needed a day off every week!  I needed to have a day that I could still make a big breakfast, or try new dinner recipes, or bake a pie without feeling guilty.  And so Project Seventh Day was born.  It is an experiment of sorts.  I want to know if I can have six days a week of discipline and careful choices, and still have one day to indulge and really be intentional about enjoying food.  To be honest, I also want to lose weight while doing it!

I will check in on this blog a couple of times a week to post thoughts about healthy living, temptations, spiritual health, emotional health, and relationships.  And every week I will have a “Seventh Day” post.  It will have the recipes that I make, pictures of my yummy food, and thoughts about the experience of having a day off to enjoy life, family, and food.

My hope is that PSD will be fun to follow, and interesting to read.  I hope that you who read it will be encouraged, gain insight, and maybe pick up a good recipe or two.  More than that I hope that it provides the accountability that I need to make some much-needed changes in my own life.  Thanks for reading!