What do you guys do about your habits during changes?

[d0ornokey]

Like if you go for travelling do you just not do you habits or do you do a minimum?

What about 10-30 day meditation retreats? Do you keep them going there? 

I'm afraid of losing my habits 

[ValiantSalvatore]

I try to pick them up as well as I can and adapt. 

Depending on what I do for instance traveling, I did lying meditation since I was uncomfortable meditating there on a chair. So, I looked for how to keep myself awake. Same goes for long train rides, where I had to share a cabin. 

I definitely would plan in advance which habits, to keep and which to change. 

For instance, during my internship in London, I wanted to work out more and went for 5k runs approx. after work. 3-4 times a week. Since gyms were too expensive. 

When you go for an early weekend trip, you can still stand up 30 min earlier if you have to go in the morning and do a 30 min meditation, at night a 30 min meditation then also. If you have a practice for 1h.

Potentially, using similar cues. For instance currently, I always have my bag packed for the gym, leaving the dirty clothes (yes) on the chair, since I will use them again anyway. So, my shoes, etc are in there and I've been able to maintain a gym routine now with traveling back home.

Scheduling tasks in advance can also help. I use a bullet journal and sketch out my day and ideally a week. Setting time blocks. It's a rough guideline and writing it stuff down helps.

I also struggle with consistency when I hit setbacks, depression, etc, last year was the first year in 3 years where I did not meditate daily, for a couple of weeks (also to test it..), for approx 2 months total, a week there, etc.  


When I did a 14day meditation retreat in a Zen temple, some people maintained their studying habit if the places allow it and it is important to you. Go ahead, I wanted to have the full experience and did not use my phone for 14 days. 

 

Edited May 6, 2019 by ValiantSalvatore

[denydritz]

Yes, maintain your habits as much as you can in your temporary or new environment.

On top of that, I don't think habits stop that easily.

If you are practicing a new habit, and you have a change of environment, it's OK to pause it until you find the right rhythm to continue practicing it.

Pausing won't make you lose the habit as if it becomes permanently inaccessible.

[GrowthPilgrim]

I asked myself the same question when I went vagabonding in Asia for a couple of months. The problem is: habits are highly bound to context, e.g. an exact location may play a big role for a specific habit to occur. So, unfortunately, depending on the habits you cultivate, it's not possible to "take them with you".

Rather, what you would have to do is to introduce them as a "new" habit while traveling (same execution bound to a different context, e.g. bound more to time than location). This might not be easy and take a lot of effort. If you travel only for a few weeks your habits at home will just be the same when you come back. Don't worry about that.

In case of a few months or longer travel periods maybe pick your most important ones and try to establish them. But don't be too hard on yourself if you cannot keep all of them while traveling. Also in your first 2 weeks back home place a higher effort in ensuring that your old habits are reestablished. Then you should also be fine. 

Also consider: habits make daily life more effective, but they are not necessarily a good thing for exploration and creativity. Habits can constrain you; they are like a corset. So why not try to be a little bit more "free" on your travels. Let your intuition and chance guide you and listen to what feels best in the moment. It will feel quite liberating.