I haven’t done my daily writing practice over the past few days while I’ve been home for Thanksgiving. I also didn’t do it last weekend, when I was away in Hamilton. Actually, I didn’t do any of my other morning routines on any of those days (meditation and writing my daily log), which tends to be the case when I’m away from home.
I could get really finicky with myself here, and try to find a workaround. I could try to come up with a bookmark habit for the times when I can’t do the full habit because I’m out of my daily routine. I could develop a whole elaborate system for making sure I’m never without my computer so that I’ll always be able to write a blog post, no matter what. But I’m not sure that’s the best strategy for me.
One of the reasons I like my daily habit tracking app is that it shows the percentage of time you complete a task, gives you a soft, colourful bubble to represent your progress, and shows you a quick glance of the last five days of the habit. It allows you to be okay with progress, not perfection. Your bubble is still growing! If you miss a day, it doesn’t have a tremendous impact.
I tend to be a person who wants that perfect streak. I’m motivated by not breaking the chain and watching the ‘points’ stack up. In general, this is a good thing! But I also have to be careful to not let myself go overboard with the perfectionistic tendencies.
The truth is, sometimes it just doesn’t feel right to do a whole elaborate morning routine when I’m on vacation. The whole point of traveling is to get out of my everyday routines. So while I’ll never stop making my bed no matter where I am, I want to be okay with loosening up on other routines that may not make as much sense when I’m not at home.
I’m “closing this loophole” by giving myself full permission to take a break from my routines when I’m “out of office” and away from home. If I miss them or want to feel more grounded, they’re always there for me to fall back on. But in the meantime, I’m off the hook, free to do what feels good in the moment without guilt. I can always get back on the horse when I get home.
