🌟 Letting Go 🌟
It can feel like January comes with pressure to take on new things.
I'm pretty good at picking up new habits, but not so great at breaking old ones. Up until 12/30/23, I had a decent Duolingo streak—1073 days!
Keeping the streak became a daily habit, but somewhere along the way, my focus shifted and I had completely lost the spirit of learning. I was opening the app each day and revisiting the same story again and again, not to work on language skills, but to keep the streak flame lit. 🙄
I knew I had to give myself permission to abandon the streak. After a few weeks of mulling it over, I decided I'd break up with Duo on the last day of 2023. Resisting Duo that last day was agony, but my mini-rebellion also came with a bit of a rush.
The minute I turned off the notifications and removed the app from my phone's home screen, I felt lighter. It's now 8 days into 2024, and although part of me can't help but feel like I'm missing something, it feels great to be free of that pesky owl!
The thing is, I KNOW that gamification can quickly turn sour for me. I've built compassion into my other habits so I don't lose the intent in the name of keeping momentum. For example, I have a sheet that I color in for each day that I hit my movement goal. I'm an easy grader, and I've set a low bar for what amount of movement qualifies. My goal isn't a perfect streak, it's not having two "gray" days in a row of no movement. I've had THIS habit for over three years, and the compassion I've built into it helps make it a sustainable one.
So what did my run with Duo teach me?
It gave me a chance to recognize when something isn't serving me.
It reinforced that *I already know* what doesn't work for me (and to trust that).
And it gave me the opportunity to practice letting go more quickly.
Letting go is HARD.
Over time, I hope to get better at letting go sooner. Practicing letting go more quickly when the stakes are low will help me let go more quickly when it's tougher to do so. It's a muscle I'm trying to strengthen, so I welcome more reps and sets.
How hard is letting go for you?
What are you holding onto that doesn't serve you? How do you know?
What do you need in order to let it go?