Building habits has always been a weakness of mine. And one of the habits I have failed to build for a long time has been to have a small creative outlet.
I think it is very easy to have a spark of inspiration, make a mental note to start working on it, and then either never start, or give up, because of the sheer amount of work involved or just the lack of time. It happens to me a lot. Especially giving up because of all the time and effort I'll have to put into something, and in this age of instant gratification, my little monkey brain is not exempt from seeking the quickest path to dopamine release. Most likely just doom scrolling.
I like writing. I really do. I like telling stories, I like making people laugh. I truly believe that during my most difficult moments in life, having a sense of humour, and seeing the absurdity of the situations we are sometimes thrown into has literally saved my life. Putting things into writing, and seeing that people have a genuine laugh about something that I wrote brings warmth to my heart.
But as mentioned before: writing is hard. Writing work. Social media easy. Social media... fun. Maybe? Do I really enjoy the content? Or just the mindless repetition that activates very specific neurons in my ... - I am getting off topic. Maybe another time.
So how do we build a habit? The last one I've built, and have since slouched on (blame the damn heatwaves) a bit was running. I went from someone who was an absolute couch potato in January with short breath after a minute of running, to someone who runs 5k 2-3 times a week. I had my first run in weeks today, I didn't manage much. But I know I did it once and I can do it again. The key to building that habit was basically just showing up... and doing it. Well, I guess I also set my conditions well. I chose something that I could do with no prep immediately after work. Come home, get into my shoes and hit the ground running. Having to go to the gym would have been a nightmare, and I would have quit almost immediately.
Showing up, and setting the right conditions. Okay. So the showing up part, easy. Write. Everyday. No matter what, or how much. Done. Conditions? Write something. Anything. Something that's on my mind, or weighing on my heart. No maximum length, no minimum length. And not having the ambition to write world changing essays. Making mistakes is okay. Learning from them is the goal. And if I miss a day, that's okay. The goal is to TRY. Not to succeed. And build the muscle for writing. And once I am comfortable with that... maybe I can get to one of these bigger projects that I have thought about a thousand times.
Lastly I want to mention my good friend, and honestly inspiration for this Lucas. Go find him at lucas.love. He has been making a short video about any topic he feels like for a hundred days. Well not quite yet, but he is getting close!
I'll consider this post number 1.
Have good day, and if no one has told you today: YOU MATTER!
- Cass