A few weeks ago, my fitness watch stopped working and, with it, a 2.5-year streak of 10,000 steps a day came to an end.
I had been maintaining that streak through busy weeks, sickness, travelling and Scottish winters. Completing the 10,000 steps per day was a part of my daily routine.
So when the streak broke, I expected to feel something, disappointment and maybe a little guilt.
But I felt nothing, and that made me wonder about how easily a habit can become about something else altogether.
When the Number Becomes More Important Than the Habit
Looking back, I can see how it happened. I wasn’t always walking because I wanted to move my body, enjoy the morning light or clear my head. Sometimes, I was walking because I needed to reach 10,000 steps, because the streak had to be maintained.
A habit that started as something that serves us can gradually become an expectation in itself.
We see this with all sorts of habits, be it exercise targets, meditation streaks, daily reading goals or something else. What begins as a way to build consistency can turn into another thing on our list that must be done. We might forget to ask whether it is still serving us.
The Season Was Already Asking Us to Slow Down
The timing was interesting, too.Here in Aberdeen, autumn is bringing plenty of change.The leaves are falling, the temperature is dropping and the long, bright evenings of summer are giving way to shorter days and a slower pace.
Nature doesn’t maintain the same rhythm throughout the year. It changes with the seasons. Yet we often expect ourselves to keep going in much the same way, with the same targets and expectations, regardless of what is happening around us.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we should give up our habits whenever life gets busy or the weather turns colder. But maybe there is room to adapt, rather than expecting ourselves to do the same things in the same way all year round.
Sometimes, a change in routine allows to reconsider the expectations we’ve attached to it. Walking can still be part of our daily lives without reaching 10,000 steps becoming a measure of success.
When a Healthy Habit Starts to Feel Like Pressure
A target can help us stay consistent and tracking our progress can give us a boost of encouragement but when maintaining a record becomes more important than the behaviour itself, maybe it is worth asking ourselves why.
We might find ourselves squeezing in an activity when we are tired, feeling guilty when we miss a day, or judging our progress by a number rather than how we actually feel. Sometimes, we don’t even realise how much pressure we have put on ourselves until we get a chance to step away from it.
When my streak ended, there was no urge to make up for lost days or rush to start again. The walking hadn’t lost its value simply because the number was no longer being counted.
We don’t always need to push harder or try to get back on track straight away. Sometimes, we just need a little space to work out what matters to us and what we want to continue doing.
I Have a New Watch Now
A few weeks later, I got a new watch. I am back to walking, and the step count is there on my wrist again. Some days I reach 10,000 steps, and some days I might do less.
Consistency doesn’t always have to mean an unbroken record. It can simply mean returning to something that continues to serve us, even when we have had a break.
A habit doesn’t become less valuable just because we stop counting it.
A Question to Carry With You
Is there a number, a target or a streak in your life that has quietly shifted from serving you to demanding something from you? What would it feel like to let go of the number and keep the habit?