Why Nothing Changes on a Random Tuesday
2020 is a year we won’t forget. And along with making cloud bread and slime, most people found their brains being turned inside out. Me included.
I always thought I was an introvert. Like Patrick the starfish. Fully convinced I could survive under a rock with zero human interaction and be completely fine. But boy, was I wrong. The lack of social interaction didn’t hit all at once; it crept in slowly, quietly, until one day it was just… there.
I think everyone picked up a side hobby during the pandemic. Mine was painting. Like, every single day. I fell deep into it, the science behind paints, brush types, and techniques, to the point where I genuinely thought I’d emerge as a full-time artist by the end of lockdown. It was probably the most time I had ever spent with myself.
And that’s what got me thinking.
Do I really need to be locked in a room, cut off from the world, for me to finally pursue things I love?
Somehow, that question led me to believe that staying inside my house 24/7 was the solution. Clearly, it was not.
What I’m trying to get at is this: something extreme had to happen for me to finally want to get better at something I cared about.
The Problem With Extremes
If you think about it, you see this everywhere. People don’t plan glow-ups on a random Tuesday. It’s usually after a breakup, at the start of a new year, or following some dramatic life shift. In other words, the extremes.
And as cute as it is to reinvent yourself when life already feels different, I think this mentality quietly holds us back.
When I’m at the gym, jamming to music, I’ll sometimes sit on a machine rocking my head slightly to the beat, waiting for the drop before starting my set. Apart from the lost seconds of me just sitting there doing nothing, it makes me feel stronger. More motivated. Like the rep will somehow be better if it starts at the right moment.
This applies to way too many things I do, but that’s a story for another day.
Because this brings us to everyone’s friend and foe: tomorrow.
Personally, I’d say tomorrow is less of a friend and more of a universal enemy.
When you say, “I’ll do that tomorrow,” trust me, that thing is not happening tomorrow. Tomorrow is the beat drop that never comes. Tomorrow is an excuse sad people make to feel productive. Tomorrow is your ex’s text that never shows up. Tomorrow is the number of chip packets you inhaled despite your New Year’s resolution. Tomorrow is the embodiment of February.
Tomorrow is never your friend.
And that’s not fine.
Starting Without a Reason
When you wait for some magical event handed to you by the universe to finally start something, you’re giving your life decisions to chance. Sometimes knowingly. Sometimes without even realising it.
You can control when you start.
You can control when you glow up.
You can control when you finally hit that rep.
What you can’t control is when a pandemic hits, when a breakup happens, or when motivation decides to visit “tomorrow.” And so, slowly, you hand those decisions away.
With this realisation floating around in my brain, I decided to start things whenever I felt like it.
At first, it feels wrong. Like breaking a KitKat horizontally. Deeply unsettling. But after a while, you realise the chocolate tastes the same either way.
I wake up at 9:08 instead of 9:00.
I started reading a new book on a completely normal Wednesday.
I started this on January 1st (yes, that breaks the pattern), but to keep things irregular, I post every Thursday.
My gym journey started randomly last year, with no dramatic “before” moment attached to it.
I think it’s great to give change meaning. Milestones are nice. Fresh starts feel good. But when it comes to self-improvement or taking your work, health, or business seriously, waiting for the extreme only delays the process.
Remember, the chocolate tastes the same.
This week, start something without a reason.
Not on a Monday.
Not at the beginning of next month.
Not after something dramatic happens.
Start it on a random day, at an odd time, with no announcement and no backstory. Read one page. Do one set. Write one paragraph. Send the email. Break the KitKat the wrong way.
No extreme required.
A Quiet Reflection
If you’ve been waiting for a sign, this might be it, not because it’s special, but because it isn’t.
Change doesn’t always need a fresh start to begin. Sometimes it just needs permission. And most of the time, the life you want doesn’t start after something happens: it starts when you stop waiting for it.
The chocolate still tastes the same.
I’ll be here next week, still overthinking ordinary things so you don’t have to.
Forecasting chaos with high confidence,
~ Aish