Backstory: Drinking enough water seems such a simple thing to do, and I know it will impact my health and well-being. So why don’t I keep it up?

I don’t have an answer. I just need to do this.

What Happened: I never hit the 4-liter mark, but I hit 3 a couple of days and comfortably downed 2+ on the other days. This is not “perfect”, but it’s “better”, and I’m okay with that.

Along the way, I figured a few things out:

• If I exercise in the morning, I quickly and effortlessly go through the first liter.
• If I put a slice of citrus in it, it feels special.
• If I serve water in a fancy glass or mug, I pick it up more often.
• If I put it in a pretty pitcher, it feels like I’m treating myself. It also helps to see that full liter on my desk, to keep track of how much more I need to drink and to save me the time of having to refill in the kitchen.

• If I made it a game, it was kind of fun. For example, when I took stretch breaks from work on the hour, I swallowed several gulps. When I watched TV, I took a couple of gulps whenever there was a commercial break. (Which is funny, because we fast-forward through most ads, but I still used those breaks as a reminder to sip.)

How do I feel? Fine. Did I notice any big changes in my health or well-being? Not yet. But I believe the long-term benefits will happen if I keep this up.

In fact, during the week I mentioned this Nudge to a friend who has a couple of decades on me. She has been concentrating on increasing her water intake recently and has noticed that several nagging health issues have, for lack of a better word, eased.

Ah-Hahs: No fireworks. No fanfare. No big ah-hah moment. This was simply a step toward better self-care, and it’s something I need to continue working on. It’s all good.