You Don't Break Down in a Day, You Break Down Little by Little, Day by Day

It’s been a rough week.

Ten days ago the third-largest explosion in human history occurred in my home city of Beirut. It was absolutely devastating. Two hospitals were left in ruins, 300,000 thousand people become homeless, and hundreds of people lost their loved ones.

My good friend almost lost her life, my friend’s friend passed away and my uncle’s home was severely damaged.

And to be 8,000 miles away from this was even harder to swallow.

I felt heartbroken and helpless. I felt guilty as if I was unworthy of the comfort I was living in. It took some time to absorb the shock of it all. Days and nights blended into one. From the moment I opened my eyes until I was in bed, my eyes were anchored onto the screen. Texting people, connecting on calls with friends and family, reading the news, watching the developing stories on social platforms, and trying to see how I could help from overseas.

Chaos ensued. Three days after the blast, people were on the streets demanding the resignation of the corrupt government officials. In the following two days, the clashes intensified. Beirut was at the forefront of every single news outlet in the world.

You Break Down Little by Little, Day by Day

For the first time this year, my momentum came to a complete halt.

I stopped writing. I stopped meditating. I stopped exercising. I began stress-eating and checking my phone first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I broke all my habits and daily rituals—literally, every single good habit I had been working on all year, instantly dissolved into the abyss.

It’s been a difficult year and this was the capstone.

But that’s the essence of life, isn’t it?

Every day we are faced with new challenges, some bigger and more catastrophic than others. Regardless of their size and magnitude, what we are called to do at that moment is to face those challenges with the faith that every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and tap into greater strength.

In spite of the emotional wreckage we might find ourselves in, we must look inward to ignite the fortitude that allows us to pick ourselves back up and carry on. How do we do this? We allow our daily rituals to uphold us. They are the scaffold upon which our days are structured and thus the foundation upon which our life is constructed. They fashion the rhythm upon which our life flows and the direction in which it progresses.

It is absolutely essential that we allow ourselves to process the emotional ordeal we are experiencing, but we must also stay cautious of the very framework from which we are operating.

As soon as you loosen your grip on the daily habits that form your daily rituals—like meditating, stretching, journaling, or healthy eating—you automatically expand the weight of gravity from the polar pull of mediocrity.

You see, you don’t break down in a day, you break down little by little, day by day. And as you continue to maneuver away from those anchoring habits and rituals, you shall continue to crumble and wither, week by week, year by year, until you consciously awaken and ask yourself: “Who have I become?”

You Also Take Care of Yourself, Little by Little, Day by Day

What I’m getting at is this: It’s easy to put the world and all its problems before you. It’s easy to fall into craters of woe and worry. It’s easy to say I’ll meditate later, I’ll journal later, I’ll exercise later, I’ll deal with it later. The problem is, at what point does later become now? At what point into the future will you rise to your senses and say enough is enough?

It’s absolutely crucial not to lose traction on your habits and routines at times of chaos because if you don’t take care of yourself, you will destroy yourself.

I’ve seen it in my friends, and I’ve seen it in myself.

When I launched my first company, I did nothing but work and exercise. I neglected my emotions. I neglected my relationships. I neglected the need to nourish my attention, mind, and soul. Six months later I was completely burnt-out.

So, when things begin to slip from you, it’s imperative that you catch yourself in the moment so you can immediately lift yourself back up and continue to steer the ship in the right direction. And you do so by leaning on your daily cornerstone habits.

• It doesn’t matter if you missed four exercise sessions in a row, what matters is that you don’t allow it to become your new normal. Pick yourself back up and start exercising again.

• It doesn’t matter if you broke the routine and did not meditate for the past week, what matters is that you don’t allow it to become your new normal. Pick yourself back up and start meditating again.

The goal is not to dwell on the losses and the shortcomings, the goal is to bounce back, veer toward your routine, and rebuild a new force of momentum. As Darren Hardy writes in The Compound Effect: “A daily routine built on good habits and disciplines separates the most successful among us from everyone else. A routine is exceptionally powerful.”

What Matters to You

We don’t break down in a day, we break down little by little, day by day.

Whether you’re passing through a difficult period or not, what matters most is that you take care of yourself before you try and take care of the world around you. You do so by abiding by your self-care routines.

Remember that there’s a thin line standing between where you are today and where you will be tomorrow. The hinge that connects the two is the one small habit you repeat every single day. Whatever you want those day-to-day anchors, habits, and rituals to consist of, do your best to stick to them.

And if ever you trip, simply rise back up and carry on.