Becoming What You Repeat
I am going to do it again today—repeat the basic routine I promised myself. I make sure to do at least some small movements and mind-healthy workouts. I allow simple exercises to count: meditating for a minute, taking a walk around the block, journaling, etc. Sometimes I do longer workouts; sometimes I do just enough to agree that it counts for today.
Why every day? Why do I need to repeat physical and mental workouts? The obvious answer is that we don’t get fit in one day and we don’t stay fit if we stop. But I also see it like this: when I visit my doctors, it’s reassuring to know they’ve been practicing for decades. When I talk to my accountant, I appreciate that he’s spent years in his field—he even grew up learning from his father. That kind of experience creates flow and understanding. It becomes part of who they are.
We are what we repeat. Practice makes normal. Every task I repeat allows me to sit deeper into that practice. This goes for both positive and negative actions.
I have a choice every day: to repeat the actions that carry me forward or repeat the work that brings me down.
Having a daily practice makes me the person I am practicing being.
ACTION: Choose one small habit to repeat today. It doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to happen.
