Yesterday I ended my 703 day writing streak. The circumstances involved an ER visit with a kid and getting back at 2AM.
In a strange way I find this freeing. Let me explain…
At the beginning of any challenge, I find my motivation to be more about the challenge than about whatever it is I am actually doing.
So just about two years ago, my local writing group made a challenge to write for 30 minutes every day. It had to be before going to bed, not midnight. I added a stipulation that it couldn’t be just stream of consciousness. At first, this challenge was all about that text message that confirmed I had in fact written.
Yesterday at 2AM, I started writing. I was tired, but had ideas for what I might write floating in my head. In fact, I had this blog post in my mind.
I realized if I were the hero in a story, it would give my author more to work with if I failed. It would shake up the status quo and force me into a choice. Would I keep writing? What would be my next challenge? Would I try to put a blog out daily? Would I switch it to a weekly goal or drop it all together?
I decided to run an experiment. I went to bed, writing unwritten, and freed myself to a new definition and a new norm.
I hope that would make a better story.
What have you done to challenge the norms in your life?