On Tuesday this week, I left work feeling achy. Not sick; just like I’d done something physically exhausting the day before. By bedtime, I was completely drained of energy. By morning, it was all I could do to drag myself out for a half-hour walk before going to work. I even stopped part-way to the office and parked my car for a quick nap. It helped -- a little.
I related the sleeping-in-the-car story to amused co-workers, one of whom asked why I didn’t stay home. That made so much sense; it just never occurred to me! My patient and all-knowing paralegal, who has worked with me for twenty years, piped up, “Laurin doesn’t call in sick.” And in a moment of clarity, I realized she was right.
Don’t get me wrong; over the years I’ve slept late, left early, and had more under-the-weather lunchtime parking lot naps than I can remember. But as you can tell, going to the office every day is just what I do. Like you, there are things I have done virtually every single day for years. And to be honest, I kind of dig my streaks.
March was a big streak month for me. I hit 365 days in a row of practicing Portuguese on my Duolingo app. (I can now pronounce, “Eu nao falo Portugues” almost perfectly!) I celebrated my 35th wedding anniversary. (SO easy to stay married; way easier than finding the perfect partner and getting married.) My nine-year anniversary of exercising every day occurred on March 5th.
Some streaks are deliberate, and some just happen. For me, routines might begin randomly until I am lured by their sequential nature. Before I know it, I am enticed by a sense of challenge and accomplishment. Exercising every day was a deliberate and daunting choice that became easy-peasy after a couple of months. I was very sporadic in practicing Portuguese until the Duolingo app reminded me how many days in a row I had practiced. (My streak would have been much longer but for that one East coast trip where I forgot about the time-zone change. Darn it!) Taking an annual bike trip for seven years in a row now makes it more likely that I will take the time to plan next year’s fun trip.
Some rituals promote health; others simply create comforting familiarity. I have deeply ingrained bedtime rituals that my dermatologist and dentist guilt-tripped me into starting. I sleep on the same side of the bed every night, even when my husband is out of town. I always put on my left shoe before my right. Never in a million years could I eat dessert until the dinner plate is taken away. I dress in workout clothes every single morning, even if I’ve scheduled a simple walking day. I listen to pop music on the way to work and audible books on the way homes, and I never reverse that sequence.
The beauty of streaking is that it catches your imagination and binds you to routines that counterbalance the uncontrollable parts of our lives. So, although I’ll never take off my clothes and run around to create a ruckus, I’m an avid and invested streaker in other ways!