What it means to be consistent.

Consistency is the key. What we keep doing consistently will definitely bring the result we looked forward to. It rewards us with the goal accomplished and that is why being consistent feels way too difficult. Why?

We make way too difficult and overwhelming plans, we try to do things beyond our means and when we reach exhaustion, we lose consistency. I am someone, who believes so much in consistency that I always tell myself that with consistency, I will get the result but the result I look forward to was never achieved because I lost my consistency to my lethargy, I lost my consistency to my mood swings, I lost my consistency to the thoughts of life’s uncertainty and I lost my consistency to enjoy. 

I stay on diet for two days and then binge eating all the things I love. I do some workout for two days and when my body aches, I care for it so much that the workout is gone for weeks. I read two days in a row and when there is some trailer of a drama then I devote all my time into finishing this 16 or 20 episodes of drama. I promised myself time and again to talk less and when I encountered someone with the same vibe, I ended up talking endlessly for hours. So, in short, my consistency at the max is just 2 or 3 days and then I failed to bring myself to it again. 

I believe that with consistency, things will become habit and then we may never lose track of whatever we are doing but things have never become my habit. I have a habit of scrolling through my phone for hours, I have the habit of sleeping too late and waking up too late, I have the habit of eating so much that instead of energy, it puts me to lie on my bed and laziness will take over. I have the habit of eating all those unhealthy foods that eating healthy feels like a torture. As I lived on so far, I always failed to adopt reading as my habit. I failed to adopt staying active and eating healthy as my habit, I failed to adopt praying as my habit and everything was replaced by lying on the bed, scrolling through the feeds watching drama, eating noodles, gossiping and the first thing I do the moment I open my eyes is to check every social media app. 

I have been doing these things over and over again consistently and it has become a habit, I need no effort to do all these things. I promised so many things to myself, yet I never changed because I failed to stay consistent. Somewhere around February or March this year, I started the habit of writing down three things I was grateful for each day. I did it regularly for a while, but there were days when I forgot to write and other days when I felt too lazy to do it. Gradually, I lost consistency, and now I hardly write at all. My initial plan was to continue for a year. My gratitude jar was almost full, and I hope to start filling it again.

I have tried to lose weight many times throughout the year, but due to a lack of consistency, I failed every time. I tried doing prostrations but couldn’t continue beyond a week. I tried jogging but gave up after two days. I tried dieting but ended up binge eating repeatedly. Fast forward, I gave birth and gained a lot of weight instead of losing it. I totally believe that only if I keep the things that I did consistently, I will be in a better shape right now. Only if I never lose consistently, I will be proud of myself for keeping it intact right now. I listened to a podcast and the speaker said, you lose consistency because you keep things way too tight for yourself that you fail to achieve it. So, I will try to do all the things that I wish to do all over again but this time, by maintaining consistency. A few weeks ago, I uninstalled my snapchat, and promised myself never to upload anything on social media for a year. I think I have made this plan way too tight for me, so I am trying it at least for 6 months. 

I may not be able to diet or do intense workout for my weight loss so, I will at least try to stay active and try to eat carefully. I will try to avoid eating junk/unhealthy foods and instead try the foods which are healthy and which are up to my taste. I don’t really say addiction but I am glued to my phone every minute, so I will try to stay without my phone, at least for an hour everyday during which I will read, or play with the children in my home. From the 24 hours of my day, I will try to devote at least 30 minutes of my time to reading and I hope it becomes my habit because I will try to keep it consistent for a month. 

There really is nothing you can’t achieve with consistency, so try small and keep it consistent that you will become the person you aspire to be, you will love the person you have become. Make plans that are doable and that doesn’t exhaust you. Be content and getting out of your comfort zone will one day lead you to success, not so grand but grand enough to make yourself proud.