I have engaged in several 30-day challenges – some more successful than others. Sure, there’s research that supports the impact that a certain amount of days you spend doing something helps it to become a habit. But there’s also research that supports that the “28-day rule” is crap and that depending on who you are that number could be 15 days or 51 days or maybe even 251 days. Point being, doing something every day to establish a habit is only good until you stop doing The Thing. And then if you’re like me, you completely fall off-the-rails and abandon The Thing altogether.
I had the intent of blogging every day in November because I truly missed regular blogging. I made it 14 days in a row before I completely forgot – with a futile attempt at logging into my phone from bed on Day 15 to get up SOMETHING, and wholly unable to log into WordPress via mobile app and unwilling to leave the comfort of flannel sheets to find my laptop. And here we are on Day 23 – almost 10 days without blogging again.
A similar story occurs with my goal of getting my running back more consistently. I was good for two weeks… and then didn’t run for an entire week. Blogging and running are things that I love to do, so why am I not making them the priority?
Can I blame everything on grad school?
In any event, this post is an effort for me to get on track with regular posting again. Man, do I hate Blog Apology Posts, so I won’t do that here (nor do I even have the audience to warrant such impossible perfection). NaBlowWriMo was not a success for me this year. Though an important lesson is one in which I previously mentioned: I am doing things because I love to do them, not because I have to justify to others my availability, my presence, my attendance, or my priorities. In the meantime, I will be exploring and reflecting a bit more on how I get habits to stick. Kinda like how I never forget to have my coffee every morning, amirite?
