After well over 100 weeks of consistently sketching every single Monday, I broke my streak. But let’s rewind…
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with habits, streaks, and routines. I love how habits keep me consistent in my creative practice. I love how routines make potentially boring tasks a seamless part of my day. I love how streaks inspire me to keep going when my motivation is down (we’ve all been there!)
But I have a tendency to let creative habits put me into auto-pilot mode where I’m no longer loving the process, but simply creating something because “that’s just what I do.” I don’t love how a break in my routine makes me feel frantic, less-than, and unproductive. I don’t love how streaks make me anxious for fear of missing a day.
During the last week of June, I made the choice to let my 100+ Meraki Monday streak go, and that decision came with a lot of mixed emotions.
First of all, it brought anxiety. Would breaking my streak mean breaking a commitment to myself? Would I ever be able to slide back into that weekly routine if I let one day go? Would my patrons be upset that I missed posting on a Monday?
Secondly, it brought relief. No major disasters took place even though I didn’t do my Meraki Monday sketch. The world kept turning, the sun still rose and set like it always does, and I came back the following Monday to sketch like I always do. It was a reminder for me that streaks aren’t everything, and the world won’t end if you break one.
And lastly it brought joy. The reason I let go of the streak was because I was serving at children’s camp that week. I wanted to be able to devote my time and attention to the kids, not to worry about cranking out a sketch. After arriving home from camp later in the week, I grabbed my Meraki sketchbook and created this little scene.
Because I’d waited, I was able to put all my emotions from camp into this illustration, and it’s truly one of my favorite ones! But I never would’ve made it if I was focused only on keeping my streak.
All this to say, it’s okay to break away from a habit, a routine, or a streak when it doesn’t align with where you are. It doesn’t mean you won’t stay consistent. It doesn’t mean your skills will regress. It simply means that you’re being honest with yourself on your priorities, and it’s okay if those priorities shift for a little bit of time. You’ll come back to your streak, your habit, or your routine when it’s right, and you’ll come back to it with joy.
Is there a habit or routine that isn’t serving your priorities right now?