Why I Don’t Chase Consistency Anymore

Maybe consistency was never about doing the same thing every day.

I’ve always been very good at starting again.

Monday.

The first of the month.

After the holidays.

When the kids go back to school.

January, obviously.

“Right. That’s it. I’m getting back into a proper routine.”

And I meant it every single time.

The problem was never starting.

I could start brilliantly.

Give me a fresh notebook, a new week and a bit of motivation and honestly, I’m dangerous.

Workout done.

Healthy breakfast.

Work started early.

House vaguely under control.

I’ve got a plan.

I’ve got goals.

I’ve probably decided I’m going to drink more water as well.

This is it.

I’ve finally got my life together.

Again.

😂

The problem came a few weeks later.

Because inevitably, something would change.

Sometimes life got busier.

Sometimes my energy dropped.

Sometimes I just didn’t feel as motivated anymore.

And suddenly the routine that had felt quite easy a few weeks earlier felt like hard work.

This is where I used to go wrong.

I didn’t adjust it.

I stopped.

Because somewhere along the way I’d decided that if I couldn’t do something the way I’d been doing it at my best…

There wasn’t much point doing it at all.

A twenty-minute workout wasn’t as good as an hour.

Doing one important bit of work wasn’t as good as smashing through the whole list.

A slightly rubbish week apparently meant the routine wasn’t working.

So I’d stop.

Wait.

And then, eventually…

Start again.

Properly.

Looking back, I’ve done this for years.

I seem to have these natural periods where I’m ridiculously motivated.

For about six weeks I’ll be full of ideas.

I’m exercising.

I’m working.

I’m cooking properly.

I’m making plans.

I’m thinking about things I want to change.

I’m basically wandering around thinking,

“Yes. THIS is me now.”

Then something shifts.

And for the next few weeks…

Not so much.

The ideas slow down.

My motivation disappears.

Everything feels like more effort.

I still do what needs doing, but the version of me who wanted to reorganise her entire life has left the building.

And for years, I thought that meant I’d failed again.

I’d lost my motivation.

I’d fallen out of my routine.

I’d stopped being consistent.

So obviously the answer was to wait until I felt motivated again…

And then begin another grand comeback.

Honestly, I’ve probably restarted the same life about 400 times.

But something different has happened this year.

The dips haven’t disappeared.

That’s the interesting bit.

I’ve still had weeks where I’ve been full of ideas and weeks where I’ve barely had any.

I’ve still had periods where exercising feels brilliant and others where I’ve really had to talk myself into moving.

I’ve still had weeks where Perfect Leanne™ turns up and apparently we’re sorting our whole life out.

And I’ve definitely had weeks where she is nowhere to be seen.

😂

The difference is…

I’ve stopped treating one as the real me and the other as the problem.

That’s been huge.

Because before, the motivated version of me was always the standard.

That was the woman I thought I should be all the time.

So whenever I couldn’t match her…

I’d failed.

Now?

I know she’ll be back.

And that has completely changed what I do while she’s gone.

This summer has been a really good example.

It’s been ridiculously hot.

There have been days where the idea of doing the workout I would’ve happily done a couple of months ago is absolutely laughable.

Old me would’ve had two options.

Do the proper workout.

Or don’t bother.

This year I’ve done something completely different.

I’ve adjusted.

I’ve done yoga.

I’ve done calisthenics.

I’ve shortened things.

I’ve changed the intensity.

I’ve accepted that what I’m capable of doing in ridiculous summer heat isn’t necessarily what I’m capable of doing at another time of year.

I’m still showing up.

It just looks different.

And weirdly…

I think this might be the most consistent I’ve ever been.

Not because I’ve finally cracked some perfect routine.

Quite the opposite.

I’ve stopped expecting myself to have one.

Last week we talked about the expectations we never question.

The things we’ve quietly decided we should be able to do without ever really asking why.

And I think consistency might be one of the biggest ones for me.

Because I’d never really questioned what I thought consistency meant.

I just assumed it meant doing something regularly…

At roughly the same level…

Forever.

Miss a few workouts?

Inconsistent.

Have a rubbish week at work?

Inconsistent.

Lose your motivation?

Inconsistent.

But I’m starting to think I’ve had it completely wrong.

Maybe I’ve been measuring consistency completely wrong.

Sometimes consistency is simply refusing to disappear.

That sentence sums up this year for me.

I’ve stopped disappearing.

And I don’t mean physically disappearing, obviously.

😂

I mean that thing I used to do where one bad week became three.

You miss a couple of workouts.

Then you think,

“I’ll start again Monday.”

Monday isn’t ideal, so perhaps next Monday.

Then something else happens.

Then you’re going away.

Then it’s nearly the school holidays.

Then you might as well wait until September.

Suddenly something you stopped doing for three days has been gone for six weeks.

And when you finally decide to restart…

You expect yourself to go straight back to where you were before.

That’s the bit I really recognise in myself.

If I’m going to restart…

I want to restart as the version of me who was at her absolute best.

Not gently.

Not realistically.

Properly.

And if I can’t do that?

I’ll wait.

Which, when I actually say it out loud, makes absolutely no sense.

I think I’ve finally realised that staying consistent has much less to do with never stopping…

And much more to do with making it easy to come back.

Sometimes my version of consistency is a brilliant workout.

Sometimes it’s ten minutes of yoga.

Sometimes I have a really productive morning with HerRhythm and get loads done.

Sometimes I do the one thing that really needs doing and call it a day.

The work still moves forward.

My body still moves.

I haven’t abandoned anything.

I’ve just changed what showing up looks like that day.

And weirdly, allowing “enough” to look different from one day to the next has probably helped me achieve far more in the long run.

I used to think that was letting myself off.

Now I think it might be the reason I’ve stopped constantly starting over.

And this is where understanding my energy has made such a difference.

Not because I can perfectly predict how I’m going to feel.

I absolutely can’t.

But because I’m much quicker at recognising when something has changed.

Maybe it’s my cycle.

Maybe I’ve not slept well.

Maybe work has been intense.

Maybe I’ve spent the entire day rushing around and I’m just knackered.

Maybe today everything simply feels like more effort than it did yesterday.

I don’t immediately turn that into a character flaw anymore.

I adjust.

That’s the bit I never understood before.

Adjusting isn’t quitting.

Doing less isn’t the same as giving up.

Changing the plan isn’t failing to stick to it.

And one low-energy week doesn’t erase everything you did before it.

It sounds ridiculously obvious when I write it like that.

Yet I spent years behaving as though it did.

I also think I’ve stopped being quite so frightened of losing momentum.

Because that used to be the fear, didn’t it?

“If I let myself slow down, I’ll never start again.”

So you keep pushing.

Even when you’re knackered.

Even when you’re not enjoying it.

Even when life is clearly asking something different from you.

Because stopping feels dangerous.

But I’ve learnt something about myself over the last couple of years.

I come back.

My motivation comes back.

My ideas come back.

My energy comes back.

Perfect Leanne™ eventually strolls back in with seventeen new plans and absolutely no regard for what the rest of us have been doing while she was away.

😂

I don’t need to chase her.

And I certainly don’t need to pretend to be her when I’m not.

I just need to keep things ticking over until she gets back.

That has probably been one of the biggest shifts for me.

I still want to be consistent.

I still want to exercise regularly.

I still want to grow HerRhythm.

I still want to eat well, look after myself and actually finish some of the things I start.

That hasn’t changed.

What has changed is the way I measure it.

I don’t measure consistency by whether Tuesday looked exactly like Monday anymore.

I look at the bigger picture.

Am I still moving?

Am I still showing up in some way?

Am I adapting instead of abandoning?

If the answer is yes…

That’s enough.

Because maybe consistency isn’t about proving you can keep going at your best.

Maybe it’s about learning how to keep going when you’re not at your best.

And I think there’s a massive difference between the two.

💛 Before You Go…

If you’ve had a slower week…

Or you’ve missed a few workouts…

Or work hasn’t gone the way you wanted…

Before you decide you’ve “fallen off” and need another grand Monday comeback, maybe ask yourself:

Have I actually stopped… or does showing up just look different at the moment?

Because maybe you don’t need to start again.

Maybe you’re still going.

If this conversation made you think, “Yep, that’s me,” come and join me over on Instagram @her_rhythm_app and Pinterest, where we continue these conversations every week.

☕ Next Friday’s Conversation…

There’s something else I’ve been trying to unlearn for a while.

Even after everything I’ve discovered about my energy…

Even after learning that slowing down doesn’t mean I’ve given up…

There’s still a little voice that appears when I sit down and do absolutely nothing.

“Shouldn’t you be doing something?”

Next Friday, I want to talk about why rest still makes me feel guilty.

Because apparently knowing rest is important…

And actually allowing yourself to do it without mentally writing a to-do list while you’re sitting down…

Are two completely different things.

😂

See you next Friday.

Leanne 💛

The HerRhythm Philosophy

We believe women don’t need fixing.

We believe changing energy is part of being human.

We believe understanding yourself is more powerful than judging yourself.

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