Tiny Changes

“True Life is Lived when Tiny Changes Occur” – Leo Tolstoy

Life is all about the tiny moments – the hug from a friend, the laughter of a child, the shared meals, the breathtaking sunsets - so the leap to tiny changes makes sense to me. But tiny changes still take big courage and dedication. The biggest change in my life this past year has been moving out of my apartment in LA. The tiny changes have been in perspective and attitude. I attempted other tiny changes like journaling, meditating, reading more, writing more, and exercising more. I attempted to sleep with my phone in the other room. But tiny changes are just as easy to lose hold of.  A change in rhythm or schedule can throw my momentum off and prevent these tiny changes from having big effects on my life. But maybe consistency isn’t everything. Maybe the months I did stick to my routines did have a domino effect that I can’t quite quantify yet.  

Paying off debt makes for a good metaphor. I created a plan to make monthly payments. And when I was consistent, I got closer to my goal. Some months I couldn’t pay my intended amount but then a big payday comes and I’m able to wipe out the debt completely. Just because I missed a few payments here and there, doesn’t mean the earlier payments didn’t help or that I didn’t pay off the debt in the end. So the work of journaling, meditating, or any other small change is the same. You set goals, then do what you can, when you can, and eventually you’ll feel the overall reward and peace of mind. It may feel like it happened all of a sudden, or all at once, but in fact the years of attempts, failures, or small successes all led to that goal.