The Subtle Art of Listening to Your Natural Cycles

I broke my 60+ day writing streak on purpose. Here’s why.

I had a 60+ day streak going publishing on Medium and it was awesome.

It felt good showing up for myself every day. I was making more money on Medium than ever. And I had a fancy streak to brag about and impress people with.

And then, one day, I broke it.

On purpose.

Why?

Because it was time.

I could tell because my writing felt uninspired and was leading me away from myself rather than toward myself. It stopped being a priority and was stressful and hollow-making.

Back when I started the writing streak, I needed to show up for myself and write every day. But now, showing up for myself was starting to look different. I didn’t need to be there for myself through grinding, I needed to be there for myself through rest and taking the time I need to recenter.

There was definitely a part of me that wanted to keep going with the streak because I felt like my worthiness as a human depended on keeping it up. I was afraid of the “me” I’d be left with once I let go of it.

But there was a deeper part of me that was wooing me on to the next phase of my life cycle which, apparently, didn’t include keeping up the writing streak.

Finally, I surrendered to my natural cycle and stopped struggling to keep up my streak.

I spent a lot more of my time reading and writing in my journal and walking around the state park by my house. I reflected on how far I’ve come and got curious about where I wanted to go next.

I was able to focus on other aspects of building my business, like creating my website and cultivating a clearer plan for the future. I started working out more. I spent more time with friends.

It was lovely and refreshing.

But now it’s been over a month of hardly publishing anything and I’m feeling my natural life cycle…

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