WHY I STAYED CONSISTENT
The promise that made six months of daily writing possible.
Welcome to Issue #040 of Sojourn. Each week, I share two original essays to help you slow down, reconnect, and rebuild with intention — in a private community that uses travel as a path to reinvention.
Every creator I’ve ever talked to has asked the same question:
“How do I stay consistent?”
Most assume it’s about discipline, routines, or scheduling tools.
But after writing every day for the past six months, here’s what I learned:
I didn’t stay consistent because I was disciplined.
I stayed consistent because I made myself a promise.
After my turning point in 2023,
after feeling like I had lost my voice…
I told myself that if I was going to rebuild,
I would rebuild differently this time.
No performance.
No polishing myself into someone else’s expectations.
No more ‘hiding’ the real parts of my story.
I chose transparency as my compass, not strategy.
And when you create from a place that is lived, not staged,
consistency stops being something you push
and becomes something that pulls you forward.
Because when you’re writing from real experience:
You don’t worry about sounding perfect.
You don’t edit your truth out of the sentence.
You don’t freeze every time you open a blank page.
You just tell the truth you actually have.
In the beginning, I wasn’t trying to be ‘valuable.’
I wasn’t trying to build a brand.
I wasn’t even trying to grow.
I was trying to hear myself again.
And that’s why the writing stuck.
The turning point came when I shared my very first post on LinkedIn:
a small truth about losing my voice in my own life…
and then my very first Sojourn came to life.
That was my start.
Not because it was strategic.
Not because it was optimized.
But because it was human.
Here’s what consistency actually depends on:
1. A promise to rebuild as yourself.
If you’re writing from lived experience, you won’t run out of material.
2. A person you’re speaking to.
When you know who you’re writing for, your own voice gets clearer.
3. A tone that matches your truth.
If you try to sound like everyone else, you’ll burn out fast.
4. A willingness to stop hiding the part that matters.
Your voice begins where your hiding ends.
Consistency isn’t an output problem.
It’s a self-honesty problem.
You stay consistent the moment your work comes from the version of you that chose to begin again.
~Ana