Photo by Daniel Mingook Kim on Unsplash

I stretched and meditated every single day for a month. It might have been the first time in my life that I actually stuck to a habit for 30 days in a row. That sounds nice and all, right? Well, let me tell you that it wasn’t always pretty.

---

I don’t remember if this was always the case but at least in my adult life, I’ve struggled majorly with consistency when it comes to… well, just about anything. If left to my own devices and without actual deadlines with consequences hovering above my head, I will start something with great ambition and a schedule in mind but my determination will peter out way too quickly. Schedules are abandoned, projects lay untouched, and no work is being done except for my thoughts relentlessly reminding me that I failed and disappointed myself (and possibly other people as well), again.

It’s what happened with this blog as well. When I finally launched it in September 2020, I was determined to publish at least one post a week, but pretty soon I started to fall behind with this schedule and eventually took an unplanned break that lasted 6 months. It happened for a myriad of reasons but not liking writing was not one of them.

And it wasn’t just writing; I didn’t have it in me to do much of anything creative and I missed it so much. The longer I let my creative projects gather dust, the more overwhelming the thought of picking them up again seemed. I felt like I just wasn’t able to crack the consistency thing and I was going to fail again and again.

Luckily, I had an idea to challenge myself and try to do something every day for 30 days. I picked a short stretching session followed by a similarly short meditation and… it was working. I expected to start skipping days or drop off completely but we passed day 3, day 10, day 20…. and I was still going strong. Well, strong might not be the exact word. But I stayed persistent even when things got hard, and that left me slightly shocked but also pretty euphoric.

---

Here are some of the reasons that probably helped me to finally stick to a habit for a whole month:

I picked something quick and (relatively easy)

I didn’t time myself but the whole stretching and meditation session only took around 15 minutes. I could find 15 minutes no matter what was happening during the day and I could pretty easily do the routine even when I was stressed, sad, or had a cold. I was also slightly tipsy on at least one occasion. :- D

I picked something I was already used to

Although I hadn’t been doing these habits very consistently (as we’ve already established), I’ve been using this particular sequence of movements for stretching for a long time. Therefore I didn’t have to think about it much and I already knew it’s something that works for me. So when it comes to the actual habit, I wasn’t experimenting with anything new that would require much mental energy or something I wouldn’t be sure I’d like.

I was flexible on how and when

Because I know myself a little bit, I didn’t tell myself: “You’re going to do this thing every day at 7 a.m. on the dot.” Nooo. It just had to happen anytime during the day. Sometimes it was a part of my morning. Other times I did it after work. And a few times I scrambled to finish it before midnight struck. And there are many ways one can meditate. Most of the time, I was sitting on my yoga mat in silence but a couple of times I mixed it up by having some music on if I felt like it.

Would it be often easier to do it earlier in the day instead of leaving it to the evening when I was already tired and there was more resistance? Yeah, but well, I had to start somewhere and I didn’t want to scare myself away. :- D

I got some light external accountability

I didn’t join any accountability group nor did I place any bets but I had a loved one who knew about the challenge and would cheer on me or gently encourage me to get it done. This really helped and made it more fun.

I made it non-negotiable (within reason)

I approached this challenge from a place of self-love and certainty that it’s something that’s good for me both physically and mentally but also with a dose of stubbornness and firmness. I wanted to show myself I could do it and that I cared about myself enough to stick with it. Fortunately, no situation that would truly prevent me from finishing the whole month arose so this mindset ended up working for me.

---

So what were the results of this challenge? I did notice some benefits like generally feeling somewhat calmer and better in my body but I think the main benefit was just sticking to something, anything, for a set period of time.

Did it solve all of my problems with consistency once and for all? Of course not. I’m impressed that I was able to accomplish this goal but it wasn’t exactly something that would require a very strong “why” or having personal systems in place that would make it possible (which are some of the things I need to ponder on more when it comes to my creative projects).

So I continue to learn more about myself and my limits and abilities but I’m so glad I have this challenge to look back on and remind me that: “I did it. And I can do it again.”

---

Is consistency something you struggle with? And if you were to challenge yourself to do something for 30 days in a row, what would it be? :- )