Having a habit can be a wonderful thing, depending on what it is. Habits can also be bad. Just to confuse the issue a bad habit for one person may be a good habit for someone else. I read somewhere that it takes 21 days to form a habit and since then I use that theory quite regularly. Twenty one days sounds ‘do-able’ to me. I like the number 21. It is a nice number which is divisible by 7 three times. When you break it down it really is only three weeks. Three weeks to create a new habit, definitely ‘do-able’.

I have been wanting to get back to writing my blog. It has been almost eight months since I had written anything apart from my grocery list. I believed that I needed to start a habit. So instead of starting writing I decided to go into research avoidance. I checked online for any information I could find in relation to the “21 days for a habit”. I was curious about who devised this magical number which seemed so obviously practical, it had to be right. To my dismay (apparently according to the internet information and more up to date gurus) a habit takes a bit longer to change, either creating or stopping. It can be anywhere from 21 days to three months or longer depending on what habit you are aiming for.

I was devastated. I like the idea that it only takes 21 days for me to get a good habit going or to kick a bad habit to the curb. 21 days is not too long to overwhelm a person and it is not a ridiculously short time like 7 days. (I definitely need longer than that to change something in my life). I think the 21 day time frame is just right and so I am going to stick with it. Thank you Dr Maxwell Maltz, I like your number from your research and book way back in 1960. I believe they knew lots of more practical stuff back then.

I had been intending to write a blog about our harvest, back in October 2020. (There is still a draft somewhere). I had good intentions but harvest is always a busy time of year. We have machinery going all day and most of the night. All the family are home helping and when they aren’t helping they are eating, sleeping and creating dirty work clothes by the bucketload. Anyway I did not write a blog at harvest. Nor did I write a blog at Christmas, or in January when we had holidays by the beach. Or even in February when our youngest son went back to boarding school. Nor did I write anything in March when our daughter went off to university to live in the big city and study to be a teacher. I realise I did blog recently about the rain and seeding so I am not beating myself up too much but it is now June and so many changes have happened. It is surprising how easily things can get away from a person.

While I write this it is raining and very cold outside and there was literally nothing else I could do. (Apart from the washing and the dishes). Definitely nothing that could be done outside. I am hoping to enthuse myself into writing something, well anything. So for the next 21 days I am going to write for 21 minutes every day. Yes, I really do like that number. Let’s see if I can create a habit. Wish me luck.