#everyday practice

EVERYDAY PRACTICE

We've all learned that if we want to change our lives for the better, we need to embody an identity by following a process or routine that teaches us to become that person.

There is no mystery to this process. It is widely acclaimed and often an obvious choice. Of course, the process helps us achieve our goals and become who we aspire to be.

But what if staying in that role can actually backfire, and make us repeat habits that aren't required?

For instance, when you are training for a marathon, you might perpetuate the identity of a runner, an early riser, or a healthy person. But what if you don't need to be an early riser or a long-distance runner just so you can enjoy a 5K on a beautiful morning?

I think while creating an identity to embody new habits, it could also hold us hostage in their ways. Creating an identity can require us to label ourselves, and labels, by their very nature, can become psychologically restrictive. The moment we feel the need to constantly live up to them, our actions can become more about maintaining the label than responding to what is actually needed.

But what if we didn't need to label ourselves at all, and instead simply worked with qualities to the best of our capacity?

For instance, I can be a high-performance go-getter, AND take my downtime. I can eat healthy, AND love to snack. When we make these boundaries fluid, we're intentionally choosing what we can do in a given situation with the energy we have right now.

This practice helps us choose our actions based on our capacity, rather than our ego, pushing us to behave a certain way just so we can reassure ourselves that we are that label.