Your journal prompts this week:
What does consistency look like in my life? In what areas am I consistent?
How has being consistent helped me grow?
How has the pressure to "be consistent" impacted how I show up for myself, my creations, and my community?
What would it look like for me to show up from a place of devotion rather than consistency? How would my approach be different?
Note: This week’s prompts and essay are inspired by a recent interview I recorded for my other podcast, The Mindful Content Creator. If you are a content creator who struggles with consistency and the pressure to post all the time, I encourage you to listen to my conversation with Cassie Uhl.
When it comes to any personal habit, creation, vision, or goal, we are told to be consistent. All the experts say that showing up consistently is key to our success.
This isn't entirely untrue, but as is true for all blanket statements and general advice, it fails to capture the subtle nuances of situations. It fails to explore the gray area.
Sometimes, being so bound to the need for consistency can come at a cost. While consistency can ensure we show up for ourselves, our loved ones, our communities, and our projects regularly, it can also force us to show up when we aren't really ready, when we're overwhelmed, or when we haven't given ourselves time to process or think things through. It can push us to "show up" when what we really need is to slow down or to rest.
For the first time in my career, I've chosen to put more focus and energy into my own creations and projects, and so I've been examining this idea of consistency and what it means for me. While putting some things out into the world before I believed I was ready has been helpful, I've found myself debating whether I'm moving too fast. Am I excited, or am I rushing in order to “ be consistent"? How can I better recognize if I'm truly ready to create and share something, or if I'm forcing it because of the pressure to be consistent? And it doesn't help that consistency with our work is also often tied to how much make money from it—that's where the added pressure comes from.
Ever since I began working with author Rebecca Campbell's card decks, and specifically with The Starseed Oracle, the word "devotion" has stuck with me. There is a card in this deck that I frequently pull and think of, and that card is "The Cosmic Heart." Its main message is "Devotion. Potency. Make your life a moving prayer."
As I confront whether my consistency is a result of my own natural cycles or a result of pressure from outside forces, the idea of commitment and more specifically devotion keeps coming through.
Being committed to something can mean being consistent, but it is also more of a promise. And devotion—this takes commitment to another level. Devotion is like a sacred promise, it recognizes there are greater forces at play beyond ourselves. Devotion lasts a lifetime, or even multiple lifetimes.
Instead of focusing on consistency, I want to move and act from a place of commitment and devotion.
Consistency implies we do the same thing on a certain schedule, in a way that is clearly visible, but commitment and devotion allow room for evolution and growth. They make room for doing what is right in the moment, so long as it serves the greater purpose, so long as it serves our mission or vision or our "why." And they honor the unseen (or behind-the-scenes) work as equally valuable.
I'm still figuring out exactly what this new "consistency," redefined as devotion, looks like for me. But I know it requires me to pause more and ask myself, "As someone devoted to her work in this moment, in this lifetime, how would I like to move forward?"
As we move into this new season, I've decided it is my season of devotion. It is a season to devote myself to my greater purpose, to everything I have birthed and am birthing. This includes my baby girl and my creative and spiritual work.
Is it time for you to redefine consistency, and make this a season of devotion for you? I encourage you to explore with the journal prompts above.
As always, feel free to share your thoughts, questions, and insights below. If you want me to pull an Oracle or Tarot card for you this week for some guidance, you can also let me know in the comments below.
With much love and gratitude,
Marcy
Less consistency, more devotion