Welcome to Day 17 of the 30 Days of Encouragement series – Commitment! Today’s post is about commitment – how daily thoughts and habits reveal whether we have genuinely committed and how it works in tandem with consistency. This series encourages you to trust the process, extend grace to yourself as you step into the unknown, and keep going even when it is difficult. 

Hot and Cold

I would hear the word commitment and automatically associate it with relationships in the past, specifically, relationships of the external variety. More recently, though, I have been thinking of it in terms of my relationship with myself. I had never considered committing an issue of mine, but when I started to pay attention to my daily habits and thoughts, it became abundantly clear that I tended to waffle more than I was willing to admit. What I was thinking, saying, and doing was not aligned.

Consistent or Commitment

The further down the path of consistency I walk, the similar it looks to commitment. The two overlap, and there cannot be one without the other. If you are committed to something, then you are consistent with it. If you are consistent with something, then you are committed to it. My struggle with consistency could be why I did not recognize my inability to commit to what I wanted. The desire would be present; however, the follow-through would fall apart after a few days or weeks. 

Feeling vs. Follow-Through

Another snag on the road to commitment was the thought that I had to feel like doing something to do it. For example, I needed to feel motivated to exercise or move my body. *loud buzzer* Feelings are fleeting. They can be there one day and gone the next. I can feel like exercising when I go to sleep, and by the time I wake up the following day, it is the very last thing I feel like doing. To depend on feelings to follow through on your commitments is setting yourself up to fail. I have started to view dependence on them as a form of self-sabotage. As I have been working on being consistent, I have had to push past my feelings, shifting how I think. That mental shift has made commitment an unexpected yet highly welcomed by-product. It has taken the decision-making out of the equation for the most part.

Small, Simple Tips for Committing

• Begin looking at commitment as something you do for yourself. Instead of looking outside for commitment, look inside out. Commit to YOURSELF to do the things that are important to you. Choose one item you have wanted to do for yourself and commit to doing it. A few ideas are consuming cleaner foods, moving more often, getting outdoors more, taking a new course, etc. Start small and increase as you build confidence in your ability to commit. Like every other area, ‘you can’t give away what you don’t have’ applies.
• Be consistent! Consistency and commitment are part and parcel. I did not successfully commit to what I wanted to do until I became consistent in doing what I told myself I would do. Does this mean I always get it right? Ummmm, NO. However, it does mean that I have seen myself be consistent enough now to get right back up when I do stumble. This shift happens quickly too. I have only pursued consistency for 12 or so weeks, and the impact is already spilling over into other areas I struggled in.
• Choose your feelings wisely. The feelings that come with follow-through outweigh the feelings of making excuses to get out of what I have committed to doing. It usually involves a conversation with myself to remember how good I feel after cleaning the house, lifting weights, organizing the space that desperately needs it, etc. My brain will forget those feelings when faced with the immediate sulk of having to follow through. The funny part is that the result feels better than the immediate reluctance. It just takes a little reminding.

Until Next Time,

Sarah