How being consistent makes you trust yourself
On appreciating you, healing with consistency, hard-but-worthy journey
Hi friends & new subscribers,
Did you notice my little banner from last week? Did you like it? Or not? You probably don’t care but I liked it. It felt nice to upload it.
We are now a family of 65 subscribers. Thank you for entrusting me with your email.
Now, that may seem like a very small number of subscribers compared to successful creators out there, but imagine being in a room of 65 people and giving a talk.
I'd probably have stage fright.
I'm writing this on a Sunday at 11:30 pm after a long 12-hour nursing shift in the hospital. I had half a mind to skip this week's newsletter, but honestly, this is one of the tiny projects that I have that I really look forward to doing.
I have 2650 followers across all my social media platforms, yet the newsletter where I'm sending 65 of you a message straight to your inbox has a different feel to it.
So, I really appreciate you being here.
And speaking of almost missing a newsletter, this week, I want to talk about why you should think twice before missing your personal deadlines, whether it's in your personal and creative journey.
How Being Consistent Builds Self-Trust
Before the year 2020, I'd never built a consistent habit.
As a nurse who works both day and night shifts, it was impossible to have a routine. The only thing that was consistent in my life is that I was inconsistent with what I did. I always thought it was because I was too cool to have a routine, and I love being flexible.
But this "love for inconsistency" was a double-edged sword.
While I thought of myself as resilient and being adaptable to any changes in my external environment, I ended up being indecisive, confused and never following my instincts. When I went to stores, I couldn't pick between two colours, although it wouldn't really matter in the end when I did pick one.
When I would decide that I was going to take my YouTube channel seriously, I'd end up not doing the work because I'd get tired of the decision-making process. And this cycle led to not trusting myself. I didn't trust that I could succeed. This distrust with myself created a whole feeling that I couldn't be reliable.
If I can't be reliable to myself, how can others rely on me?
Or worse, I felt like I was continuously disappointed in myself for not being consistent on anything that I did - whether it was learning a new language or reading.
That's when I needed to realize that I needed to learn how to be consistent. Since becoming consistent with my yoga practice (which, by the way, I've replaced with strengthening workouts) and writing practice, I've slowly healed that relationship with myself.
Now that I have 10-months worth of evidence of consistently showing up, I trust myself that I can do anything that I want if I really put my heart and soul into it.
In short, to build the self-trust, you need to be confident to show up online. You have to take consistent action first.
And the rest will follow.
✍️ Writing Journey:
Honestly, I've been uninspired with my writing journey since I started freelancing.
I don't dislike freelancing, but it's hard to market yourself, reach out to companies, and ask them to pay you for your ideas. I ask myself every day, am I still on the right path? Because I certainly don't know. I love writing for the sake of writing, but the before and after of it takes hard work.
I don't mind it, but I don't love it, and I trust that it will get better in the future.
And from this, I realize that no matter how good you become at your craft, you will have to do the work to get published, get known, and get seen. I can't imagine what actors go through when they work — find projects, audition, get rejected, and do it all over again.
But you never know when that one project will change your life.
So, it makes it all worth it.
In the meantime, read this article I wrote about subtle signs that I pondered on being a writer at heart and how to nurture this gift.
🤔 A question for you this week:
What's the thing you are struggling to be consistent on, and why?
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
P.S. If you enjoyed this newsletter, please do another soul and me a favour and share this with them. It’d mean a lot <3
And as always, I'd love to know your feedback, questions or comments, so don't hesitate to reach out through Twitter or Instagram. 🙂
With love,
Jerine