Every relationship has a “Honeymoon Phase” – an initial period where everything is new and good and can never go wrong. This doesn’t just apply to our relationships with other people, but our relationships with our job, technology, where we live, and everything else. When I went to Iraq in 2004 for Operation Iraqi Freedom the first couple of weeks had a “Honeymoon Phase” where everything was fun, exciting, and new. It applies as much to going to war as it does starting a new habit – for the first couple of weeks it is fun and exciting and new to get up every morning and run.
Until one day you wake up and it isn’t fun anymore. You go from a tremendous high to a pretty low low. Then if you fight through and give it a little more time, things will even out. Maybe they even out at a place where you aren’t joyful about getting up early to run but still enjoy it. Or maybe they even out somewhere where you dread your new habit.
The first two weeks don’t matter because they are not a good indicator of how real life will be.