The Power of a Habit

 My days are filled with a multitude of small habits. Learning French (or maybe Spanish) or playing chess on Duolingo. My quick AM journal, beginning with three gratitudes. My ten minutes of writing. My allotted time on my coursework as an instructor and maybe some time on Coursera (for fun). And then there are things like laundry and cooking and tidying up, punctuated by a larger household or organization project.

It's the stuff that summer days are made of.

I call my dad each night and we talk about our days. Sometimes, I feel as though my reports sound like just that -- a recitation of things that, singly, don't amount to much.

At least not over the course of 24 hours.

During our conversations, I often find myself saying that I have nothing exciting to report but, over time I'm beginning to recognize that these small habits are adding up. Ten minutes of writing a day has gotten me back into the habit of putting words on the page. Right now, those words are a sort of mishmash: a burgeoning fiction project, sprinkled with responses to random prompts that serve to help me meet my daily goal, but don't necessarily contribute to the larger anything. 

Time on Duolingo has not only brought my high school French back, it has taken me to a point where my fluency surpasses what I could do back then. I'm still not ready to be dropped into the streets of Paris to fend for myself, but I'm getting closer.

Chess lessons on Duolingo have taught me aspects of the game I never learned when I tried to teach myself. Similarly, I'm not ready to challenge my nephew, who plays at an advanced level, but I'm getting better at strategizing although, truth be told, I get frustrated a lot of the time.

My morning journal, along with the meditation practice I'm trying to incorporate, helps me start out positively and on an even keel or, when used later in the day, it helps me regain my keel.

While it's true that I often have nothing exciting to report, it's also true that, over time, the developments are pretty exciting. Growth is incremental, and often so small that we don't see it, even when we're looking directly at it, or reporting it in a phone call.

But it's there.

With persistence and curiosity, growth is inevitable. And that's a pretty good way to spend a summer.