I went on a walk today after the 8th morning of not writing a single word towards my 50,000 word goal. I am decidedly not beating myself up over this, but trying to understand patterns. I have often claimed that I am not one for routines. I have a hard time picking up new habits as I rarely do the same thing in the same order day after day.
What I am learning is that for me I think I cannot go a day without doing whatever it is I’m trying to incorporate into my life. Because a day will easily lead into several days, or weeks, or months. It needs to be something I do everyday without fail
They say that it takes 21 days to develop a habit. I think for me it may take a lifetime. In that, it may never become a thoughtless act - writing, exercise, meditation, whatever - will likely always need to be a choice I make every day.
And maybe that’s what habits are for most people – choices they make every day. I imagine it differently, that it becomes like eating or breathing, you do it because you need to do it, the habit. But maybe that is not right, maybe for everyone it is a daily choice made.
So this morning I chose to walk. and today I’ll choose to write.
