I Wrote Every Day for a Year: Here Are Three Surprising Things I Learned

“Would you like to write every day for a year?” This was the message that changed everything. When I found this last January, I had just registered on “Threads”. This new social network, a kind of crossover between the old Twitter and Instagram, fascinates me. I post my first message, follow some artists, writers, poets and come to this post.

After spending a year tracking my alcohol consumption on a day-to-day basis last year, I was specifically looking for a challenge for this new year. For this new challenge, we will come back to the power of community, the benefits that come from challenging yourself, but also the limitations, the lessons learned and what you can learn from this for your year 2025.

Mental Health and Community Strength

After accepting this challenge, there would be months of discussions, sharing of our writing and laughs in the cocoon of an Instagram group created for the occasion. Very quickly, a hard core emerged. There are five of us who exchange daily, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. Day after day, our hostess, at the core of the challenge, gives us an imposing word. She will do so until the end of the year, unbroken. This virtual group, in which we share a common passion, is proving beneficial for me. First of all, this was at a time when I was physically injured, and a family member was in palliative care. This group acts like a timeless bubble, a creative cocoon that impacts my mental well-being.

Again, this allows me to face the challenge. The fact that the group is so active and the lively interactions provide an exciting dynamic that draws and inspires us. Some will never publish their text in the group, others every day. Encouraged by the energy and feedback of the group, I gained confidence and began publishing my first articles on the threads. Until then, I had not shared any of my creative texts on social networks and the writing of my last verses dates back to adolescence.

Protocols and failure bias, the key to success?

Very quickly, I imposed three rules on myself: write each poem in 10 minutes every day; Post every poem, regardless of what I think of its delivery or its quality; Make up for missed days to maintain momentum. This “protocol” once established with me allows me to overcome all my fears. The scheduled time allows me to push myself not to be embarrassed by the result produced, as time is limited and also to be able to complete this challenge every day, despite a busy schedule.

Perhaps the most important rule was to share each poem day by day. Apart from this obligation, I certainly don’t post any of them. And it may not have resulted in all the feedback you received, so you need to be able to create your own framework based on your own internal brakes and your own desires to get you on the right track with the challenge you’re facing. Lance In the same way, by moving to a smaller writing window by only having one or two spots to give yourself time to write each day, this rule makes it possible to play on the two laws of Parkinson’s Law, which posits that the more time we The more we devote to a task, the more time it will take us to complete that task.

power of habits

The second is the “2 Minute Rule”, which can be found in the book “A Little Thing Can Change Everything” by author James Clear. He defines the following: We can reduce all our habits to two minutes. He takes the example of running: To successfully get into the habit of running, you can get back into the habit of wearing your sneakers for running. Then wearing your shoes becomes a trigger. If you don’t run at all, you can start by running for two minutes after putting on your shoes. The idea is to reduce the effort it takes you to establish a new habit.

The flip side of this is compounding our negative habits. So, if you are unable to maintain a new habit, the author recommends starting with small steps and “visually” having your goal every day. The writing challenge, for example, would require placing an open notebook with a pen on a furnished desk area. Or, like me, set up a 10-minute slot in your diary with a visible reminder throughout the day, during travel or lunch breaks.

Failed to succeed? rise to the challenge

I did not complete my challenge. I quit my job in mid-September after new family health problems and a breakup. Then I caught on in November. Even though I haven’t kept up with it on a daily basis over the past few months, I’ve still pushed my challenge as far as I can. There are 366 days in this year 2024, I have written 323 poems so far, and about ten more poems outside of the challenge. During the period when I walked away from the challenge, I was able to use the tool of poetry to overcome evils through words. Thanks to this challenge, I was able to acquire a new daily wellness tool. And go from 0 poems to over 300 in the last 10 years.

Maintaining the challenge over such a long period of time requires a strong and renewed commitment on a daily basis, even during “less good” periods or, more easily, during holiday periods. A tool I just discovered might help me get through the year: “Habit Coupling”. A technique that allows you to link your new habit to an already existing habit, reducing the difficulty of establishing a new habit. For example, it could be doing squats while you brush your teeth. Establishing an accurate repetition helps. As Benjamin Franklin pointed out: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!” ,

unintended consequences of challenge

Taking on a challenge can have unexpected positive results! Two members of our little group had huge crushes on each other. Shortly after their meeting, who we will call Julie, left her job and her city (Lyon) to settle in Brittany and join whom we will call Jules. Not long ago, I went to Rennes to meet him and celebrate his baby shower. From this union a little girl was born. Therefore this challenge changed his life to a great extent. Jules is the only one of the group to continue the challenge to the end. Since then he has published songs and started writing a novel. Julie left the challenge, but her short story about their love story was selected and published in a magazine. She keeps writing and publishing poems from time to time.

For my part, I got many benefits from this challenge. I gained confidence in my writing, I strengthened my ability to have discipline, I dared to publish my writing day after day, I met people who, for some, became close friends. . I have had many therapeutic benefits from writing poetry this year. Posting every day has also given me a caring and united community on the threads. Finally, a collection of my poems has been physically published, a pleasant surprise that I owe to a dear friend, who would undoubtedly encourage me to take the step of publishing. And I also organized a month-long creative writing challenge in November. I have one certainty: I know I will continue writing in 2025 without any challenges.

Benefits of challenge according to experts

The fact of challenging ourselves has many benefits on our mental health, as revealed here, we can cite: strengthening self-confidence, increasing self-esteem, developing our mental resilience. Failure also helps: it allows us to learn to manage our frustration, strengthening our ability to face future challenges and bouncing back more effectively when faced with difficulties.

Psychotherapist Abigail Brenner summarizes things this way. stylist : “Every time you try something new and allow yourself to be open to whatever experience comes up, you learn and expand your store of life skills and self-knowledge. In doing so, you also expand your comfort zone. As the Harvard Summer School website reminds us, a daily challenge can also be akin to “exposure therapy to the objects of your fears and anxieties and helping you overcome them.”

Find the “right” challenge for you

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”, this phrase attributed to Albert Einstein inspires us to try new things to discover unexpected results. What if we gave ourselves permission to step out of our comfort zone in 2025 by changing one very small habit or challenging ourselves over a period of our choice? With the aim of doing good for yourself, without putting pressure on yourself. Disconnecting from social networks for 1 month, setting a goal of walking 10,000 steps a day for 3 months, or even practicing journaling for 6 months can slow down your daily life.

Setting challenges, yes, but at our own pace and not too big, otherwise we risk entering the “fear zone” and there we will find ourselves paralyzed, as author Judith Bardwich explains in her book danger in comfort zone (1991, untranslated). The ideal is to get out of your “comfort zone” and enter your “growth zone.” There, there is a challenge within our reach before starting the next level, if and only if we want it. One step after another, as outlined by “Kaizen” or “the method of small steps”.

three things i learned

1. Challenging yourself is already beneficial in itself And can give rise to unexpected situations: finding oneself in Brittany to celebrate the birth of a child, for example, creating a community by simple cumulative effect, etc. Each challenge takes you out of your comfort zone and allows you to always go a little further, without rushing to achieve your goals. 2. Define your own protocol Allowing you to customize the challenge set for you and move at your own pace. 3. Surrounding yourself with well-being helps you achieve your goals: Finding a community, people who have a common goal, helps overcome the challenges faced on a daily basis.

And finally, even though I already knew it, I hadn’t realized it for so long: writing can have a real positive impact on our mental health and nurture our capacity for resilience.