Streaking: 500 Days in a Row! And Now I'm Taking a Break

Thanks to the pandemic, my daily playing streak has reached an unbeatable (for me) 500 days in a row. With typical yearly travel obligations for work on hiatus since a year ago, I pushed my record to height that would have otherwise been impossible. 

Quite frankly, over the last few months, my streak had started to almost feel like a weight on my shoulders. I've hardly played for longer that 5-10 minutes per day for a few weeks. I've been putting in the bare minimum to keep my streak alive. 

In January, I decided I would make it to the nice round number of 500 and then take today off. Today, is that day off. 

The idea of trying to play banjo and fiddle everyday, even if just for five minutes, came in 2018. The merit of short bursts of practice was inspired by Tom Collins of Banjo Blitz fame (now Banjo Quest). I used to feel like if I couldn't fit in at least 30 minutes, then it wasn't worth it. When I reduced that threshold to five minutes, I suddenly found myself stringing together multiple days, then multiple weeks, then multiple months and then a whole year. I was hooked! 

Until I wasn't. 

Being forced to stay home and not doing any sort of travel for work or pleasure meant I could just keep going. It started to feel less like an accomplishment and more like a burden. I'd wait until it was almost bedtime and then think, "OK, gotta get in my five minutes to keep the streak alive." 

It was no fun. So, the streak is over. I hope I never break this record.

I'm hoping to start feeling more compelled to play longer stretches, get back to learning new tunes and improving my skills on banjo and fiddle. I've just felt so stagnant. 

Thank you for following me on this streaking journey.