The Streak Must End

Stopping the streaking. I was going to make a joke about streaking—the other kind, involving unclothed individuals—but really, this is not funny. This is serious business for me. Deadly serious.

My typical approach used to be this: If I am going to make something a habit, I need to make it a habit. Write down three gratitudes each day. Publish a blog post daily. These are two practices that put my life on a good path, and also showed me that I needn’t get hung up on the daily as much as the practice itself. Discipline is important, but too much drive and I can run a good habit into the ground, get complacent, make what should be an evolving practice a rote one. Then, I get stuck. Really stuck. I think I have it figured out and I stop growing and learning.

My latest streak? Meditation. I have been practicing meditation for several years, and it has been a real transformative learning curve for me. It took time to take hold. My mind kept getting in the way and I would be sidetracked by thoughts that took me in the opposite direction of quiet reflection. I kept practicing, and found guided meditations and breathing practices to be especially beneficial. I am now a daily meditator. Sometimes a few minutes, sometimes longer. Some days I journal as well. Some days I don’t.

I got a good streak going on Insight Timer and set a goal of using the app daily for a year. When I hit a year, 400 seemed a good goal. When I hit 400, I kept going. As I closed in on 500, I realized I was falling into the same trap. If I get too caught up in keeping a streak alive, even if it’s a healthy activity, I start to lose the healthy activity. If it becomes more about keeping the streak alive and less about the activity itself, I’m in big trouble. In my complacent and rigid approach. I stall out. The activity starts to lose meaning. I don’t need to end the activity. I need to end the streak. So I did.

I have made much progress in my meditation practice, thanks to regular practice. I am now able to do unguided meditation and reflection time as part of my routine too. I very much appreciate the guided practices I use and the wonderful teachers who provide them. The daily practice is the key, not the number of days I have practiced.

Here’s the proof I needed to show myself I could let go of a streak and free myself to continue a deeper practice. There are new paths to explore. I am no longer stuck on one path. Onward!