I Didn’t Know I Could Do Something for 600 Weeks and Counting
But here we are. Welcome to Pathwalking 600.
Just before New Year’s Eve at the end of 2011, I decided that rather than make a flabby, easily ignored, or disregarded resolution – instead, I’d take a New Year’s Action.
That action would be to blog at least once a week, every week.
Pathwalking was born. My life philosophy would be placed on Wednesdays, and I would write a new article and post it every week.
That was now just over 11.5 years ago. Today, this article is the 600th culmination of my New Year’s Action taken so long ago.
I didn’t know I’d be capable of doing something for 600 weeks and counting. What’s more – this is not the only article I write during the week, nor has it been for a long time now.
Did my action meet the goal desired? Met and exceeded, yes.
Actions speak loudest
One reason a New Year’s Action seemed much more powerful than a mere resolution was because of the implication of action.
To act is to do something.
It’s easy to conjure up an idea. And resolving to do something falls along this line. When you resolve to act – you’re basically telling the universe you intend to do something.
Intent, however, isn’t action. Intent is a notion, an idea, a concept maybe. But that’s all it is. When you resolve to eat better or go to the gym – that’s not the same as eating better and going to the gym.
I didn’t just resolve to start blogging weekly. I acted on it. The decision was made beyond resolve and straight to action.
What’s the difference? Doing. I think this is where most New Year’s Resolutions fail. Because the intent isn’t the same as outright action.
Actions speak louder than words. I brokered no other option – do or do not, blogging would happen once a week.
By making this an action that I took, I opened the way to increase it further.
At one point, I was writing as many as 6 blogs a week. Now, it’s 4 a week, plus a podcast.
But there was a deeper goal. Making myself act on something. A goal that I desired to see through.
Do something, do something more
For 600 weeks I’ve been exploring this philosophy of life. This has led to a deeper study of conscious reality creation, manifestation, and using active conscious awareness – mindfulness – to direct and, when possible, control my life experience.
Then, I share this to show the potential and possibilities this holds for not just me, but anyone.
There is no One True Way, no singular path for all. But the choices and decisions that go into active Pathwalking have been something I’ve shared for over 11.5 years and counting.
This inspired me to do even more writing. Along the way, I started posting about Positivity every Monday. That’s been ongoing for 489 weeks – a hair over 9.4 years.
The intent of my New Year’s Action over 600 weeks ago had been to do something more with my writing. I had a blog website – but my posts to it were sporadic. It was time to post more frequently.
Pathwalking and Positivity were joined by other posts along the way. To keep my author website fresh, I post a blog about the ongoing creative process there once a week. As I was exploring how to reconcile being both a fiction and nonfiction writer, for a time I was posting a series called Crossing the Bridges.
When I started cross-posting everything to Medium, I eventually found myself writing 5-6 total posts a week. But that wasn’t sustainable, so now there’s just a health and wellness post weekly, bringing my total to 4 posts a week.
When I started out to do something, that led me to do something more.
The topic evolves
I’ve considered when enough might be enough. Are 600 weeks more than enough articles on this topic?
No. Because the topic is ongoing, broad, and constantly redefined. Recognizing that change is the one and only concept in the entire universe, the methodology of Pathwalking is constantly evolving and changing, too.
I debated if I should repost the first Pathwalk. But it’s rough, unformatted (I knew nothing about SEO and other important readability-increasing necessities), and a bit tentative. However, if you’re curious, it can be found here.
In the 11.5 years I’ve shared this idea, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve strived to apply Pathwalking to my life since I first conceived of this – and largely have. Imperfect though it may be – no practice is perfect, let’s be honest – the effort was and remains well worth it.
Sometimes producing a new post weekly isn’t easy. I worry that I’m repeating myself (and after 600 articles, likely I am to a degree). But writing is like breathing to me, and I love how this continues to intrigue me as it – and I – evolve.
I didn’t know that I could do something for 600 weeks and counting, consistently. But I have. And if I can do this, and it changes and evolves, what else am I capable of?
Do something repeatedly to form a habit
Habits are repetitive actions at their heart.
Nothing becomes habitual without repetition. Good or bad, the actions you do can form habits when you do something again and again.
Writing about Pathwalking is a habit. And a good one, I think. I choose to do something intentionally. Something that meant a lot to me. And it’s grown way beyond anywhere I thought that it might.
Many people form habits unintentionally. That’s where a lot of bad habits come from.
Often, the best way to replace a bad habit is with a new, good habit.
Setting myself the schedule of posts on given days has made them habitual. That’s part of why, even after 600 weeks of this, next week you’ll be reading Pathwalking 601. A habit I intentionally created and used to build more and better, similar writing habits.
Doing isn’t always easy. The best way to begin anything at all is to simply do it.
It’s amazing how easy it is to forget this simple truth. And when you do – you’ll wonder why nothing happened. All the plans were there, the ideas laid out – but did you remember to do, to act, and act repeatedly?
My writing habit – a good habit, I believe – has grown and evolved as much as this singular topic. Maybe I’m deluded, but I believe I’m not bad at this – and writing is the primary means for how I answer my calling to be a storyteller.
However long during this 600-week journey joined me – thanks for being part of me doing something that means a lot to me. I appreciate you for reading this and hope it’s useful and helpful to you, too.
Thank you.
Have you decided to do something that lasted a long time and took on a life of its own?
This is the six-hundredth (600th) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – using mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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