Flexibility is the key to consistency

Postcard from Charleston, SC

View from our Airbnb near Folly Beach, SC. That’s a lighthouse on the horizon.

This weekend, Chelsea and I are in Charleston, South Carolina for a wedding. It’s our first time here, and as we explore the city, I’ve been mesmerized by the beautiful historical buildings, the oak trees draped in Spanish moss, and the amazing food we’ve had everywhere we’ve gone.

With all the festivities, I haven’t had as much time to write, but it’s important to me to keep the consistent habit of writing and publishing something every week.

But if you want to be consistent about anything in life, it’s also important to be flexible. In my experience, being flexible and willing to adapt to changing circumstances is the only way to maintain consistent habits over the long term.

For example, if you’re attached to only exercising with certain machines or going to a specific workout class, it’s going to be tough to keep that up when you travel. On the other hand, you can do push-ups or yoga asanas anywhere in the world, even with limited space.

When I’m at home, I meditate on a zafu and zabuton (Japanese-style cushions). But when I travel, I have a technique of folding a regular pillow in half, stacking that on top of another pillow and sitting on the floor or the bed. It’s not quite as comfortable, but keeping up my meditation practice on the road makes travel a more meaningful and enjoyable experience.

And since I haven’t had as much time to write this week, I figured I’d just send you a kind of digital postcard from Charleston this week. Thinking about it this way made the writing process faster, less stressful, and more fun for me.

Three places to check out next time you’re in Charleston:

• Bad Bunnies—cute coffee shop with great decor, service, and vibes. I had to do a two-hour clinical hypnosis training on Zoom on Friday while we were in between Airbnbs, and this was the perfect place for us to stop.

• Chico Feo—open air Caribbean/Asian fusion restaurant and beer bar in Folly Beach. Again, great decor and vibes and probably the only place you can get a cubano sandwich and bao at the same restaurant.

• Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar—this was exactly the Southern/sea food restaurant we were looking for near Charleston City Market. The shrimp and grits were next-level, and they had a nice variety of oysters as well.

Quote of the Week:

“The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. A process that cannot be understood by stopping it. We must move with the flow of the process. We must join it. We must flow with it.”

—Frank Herbert, in Dune

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Thanks for reading,

Chris Cordry, LMFT

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