I meditated for 30 days in a row and this is what happened:
Meditation is something that is talked about ad-nauseum and sometimes it gets so repetitive that your brain pretty much ignores it. At least that is what my mind did. We all know that meditation is great for allowing you to slow down, focus on breathing and have mental space and peace. But what is the ultimate benefit that comes of it? I wasn’t so sure if it would be yet another thing to try and quit at.
Until one day….
I got super stressed after a LONG day at work. It felt like I couldn’t breathe. I wanted a way to calm down that didn’t take 30 minutes or involve changing into workout clothes and having to “get ready”.
Enter the world of meditation.
I remember first getting into meditation a few years ago and finding the Headspace app and absolutely loving it. Headspace is super easy to use (it’s an app you can download on both Android & IOS). There are mediations from 2mins all the way up to 120 mins if you fancy stretching yourself!
BUT as time went on my mind was convincing me that I didn’t have time to meditate and sit still. Then there were days when I just couldn’t see the point of meditating and focusing on breathing etc. It was like my mind was arguing with myself!
On an off I have experimented with mediation as a habit, but it never really stuck because I kept making it tough by having an all or nothing mentality. I would tell myself “If I’m going to meditate then it has to be a 20 minute session or nothing”. I’m sure you know what happened next.
I would mediate for one or two weeks with 20 minute sessions then procrastination would kick in and I would put it off for a week. Then one week became five and before I knew it, I had forgotten meditation as a practice altogether.
All of this to say that I really wanted to give meditation another go…..and so decided to try my own meditation challenge for 30 days.
My challenge: Meditate daily
My goal: to see what mediation really does for me and whether it’s something I want to integrate into daily life.
Having tried to meditate in the past and failing I knew I needed to make this as simple as possible. That way it would easier to keep going and maintain the momentum. I’m defining success here as meditating at least 60% of the 30 days.
All I had to do was meditate every day for a period of 30 days. I decided that the length could be anything from 2 minutes up to about 30mins. Having only just started this challenge I kept it simple and did between 2 and 5 minutes daily. I love the idea of being able to sit and meditate for half an hour in one go but my mindset isn’t quite there yet. One day!!
The result?
I managed to meditate EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. For 30 days. And quite honestly, I’m surprised that there wasn’t a day that I missed or postponed. There were DEFINITELY times when I felt like I had to meditate because of the challenge. But once I did each meditation I definitely felt calmer and more peaceful for the 30 minutes directly after the session. Every day looked different though. Some days I would feel instantly clearer and other days felt like there was no longer term change at all. I found it fustrating when the clarity didn’t last all day and that go me thinking about longer sessions. Would longer meditation sessions have a more long term impact?
Was it perfect? By no means! But I noticed that when I focus on breathing and try to quiet my mind, a LOT of thoughts come up. It’s like when you want to be still - that is when the mind starts engaging in every tiny thing!
I’ve also realised that doing this challenge has allowed me to be really present when it comes to noticing when feeling stressed or anxious or nervous. Doing a 3 minute meditation allowed me to shift my mindset and physically have a fresh set of eyes.
How I kept the habit of meditation for 30 days:
Tracking the habit: I used a page of my goal planner for this and ticked it off ever day. A habit tracker can be a piece of paper with a tick for each day done or you can use a digital app such as Routinery which helps you create and maintain routines.
Habit cues: I knew that meditation would not happen on its own as I was not in the habit of doing so. Instead I decided that after each pilates session I would sit and meditate. Now the habit of exercise triggers the habit of meditation and it works with more fluidity.
Routine: This is where I was mostly consistent with meditating. I would use the middle of the day once my workout was finished to meditate. Doing anything at the same time each day helps to re-enforce the habit and makes it easier to establish long term.
Creating a mini ritual – I would make myself a tea or lemon water and then have that on my desk ready to drink after the session. This helped to create a mini ritual and also helped make meditation more of a relaxing aspect to my day rather than something I had to do for a challenge.
My final thoughts
I went into this challenge with the mindset of “I’m having a go and it does NOT need to be perfect. If I miss a day or two or five it’s ok and it’s more important to have a go and check off the days that I do complete”
This mindset allowed me to relax and not put myself under pressure to make the challenge perfect and in doing so I ended up showing up every day and actually doing a meditation. Some days I only did about 2 minutes and other days I felt like I could progress up to a 10 minute mediation but the key thing is I did something, however small, every day.
As with anything in life it is better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly. All progress is progress however small. Now I find myself sitting in meditation more easily but as always there are still good days and not so good days. It’s about having a go and not being hard on myself for not having the expected results appear in the perfect way.
What new project or habit are you interested in trying out as part of your day to day life?
What small step can you take today that will help you commit to it?
Let me know in the comments.