Why Mixing It Up Might Be the Key to Your Discipline

“To keep the lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it — and sometimes change the wick.” — Mother Teresa

I have never been someone who fits into society’s so-called perfect little box of what consistency should look like.

I would start a million things and not finish half of them.
The guitar I swore I’d master? It’s still gathering dust in my old attic.
That book idea I was once obsessed with and swore I would write? Barely halfway through.

And the list goes on……
Hobbies, ideas, dreams, passions. They all started with fire and then left smoldering somewhere along the way.

For the longest time, I thought there was something wrong with me.

Because everywhere I turned, I was told that consistency is the key to success.
The best-selling self-help books.
The seminars.
My mentors I admired so much.
My parents.

They all told me one thing: people who stick to one thing, those with linear growth and a five-year plan, were the ones who’d “make it.”

And I… was not that person.

And it would be an understatement to say I tried. Because I gave it my all.

Each time I promised myself, this time I’ll commit. I’ll stick to it. I’ll finish it. I’ll be different.

And each time, I eventually lost interest, lost energy, or simply felt trapped.

My father would always tell me to centralize my energy into one thing. “Focus,” he’d say. “You can’t do everything.”

And for the longest time, I believed that.
I romanticized the idea of the singular path — the one calling, the one career, the one identity that I would follow and master.

But I wasn’t that person.

One day, tired and fed up, I just… stopped trying to force myself to be that person.

And something shifted.

I started looking inward — at how I actually worked, how my mind and energy really flowed when I removed the guilt, the pressure, and the “should be”. And I realized something that truly changed my life:

I’m not meant for just one thing.
I’ve always had multiple passions.

As a child, I loved writing, painting, reading, researching, talking, learning — everything all at once. But I was told I could only be one.

Pick a lane. Stick to it. Become that.

That narrative? It fucked me up.

Because the truth is — I thrive when I’m juggling multiple things.

I’m more creative when I have more than one outlet.
I have more energy when I can rotate between passions.
I get bored if I’m boxed into just one pursuit and my energy becomes stale.

And when I finally started living that way — on my own rhythm, with multiple projects, switching when I needed to — it felt like coming home to myself.

Having a partner who is wired the same way helped too.
He’s also been called “all over the place.” Also told to choose.

But now we both work on what we love, in the ways that actually energize us.

And honestly? We are still figuring things out but we’re happier than we’ve ever been. Because we finally stopped pretending we were someone we’re not.

We chose to accept the way our minds and hearts work.
And that actually made us more productive and more “consistent” in turn.

So, What Does Consistency Look Like For People Like Us?

It’s not about doing one thing every day forever.
It’s about staying connected to your why.
It’s about trusting that your energy will ebb and flow — and building a system that lets it.

For me, it meant allowing more than one project at once.
It meant rotating between writing, reading, painting, and ideating.
It meant giving myself permission to pause, and trusting I would return.

And I always do.

Just not in a way that looks neat on a calendar.

In the End, It Was Never About Being Broken

Society messes us up a lot.
Why couldn’t I just be like everyone else? Why couldn’t I just stick to one thing and finish it?

But now I see it more clearly:

I was never broken. I was just different.
I wasn’t inconsistent — I was nonlinear.
I wasn’t distracted — I was multifaceted.

The real problem wasn’t me.

It was the idea that success and worth only come through single-minded focus.
That jumping between projects means you’re flaky.
That starting and not finishing is a flaw.

But I’ve found my rhythm now.
A rhythm that lets me be curious, messy, and free.

One where I don’t shame myself for pivoting or pausing — because that’s just part of my creative cycle.

So if you’re someone who’s been told you’re too scattered, too impulsive, too inconsistent —

Maybe you’re just someone who wasn’t meant to be one thing.
Maybe you’re just a whole galaxy.
Trying to bloom in a world that only wants stars in a straight line.

And trust me —there’s nothing wrong with being that.

— Anushka & Vishnu🐾