Hello, my friends!

For many years, I've told myself:

Whenever one day didn't go as planned, I'd spiral down. I'd stop. And tell myself I'd start again next Monday. Over and over.

I never finish what I started. Never making any real progress.

Then I'd beat myself up for not being consistent enough. Why can't I ever do one thing consistently?

Until I discovered that the version of consistency I'd been chasing has never existed.

Because I found this:

I've mentioned Flexible Consistency in almost every letter I've published. But I've never written the letter that defines it.

This is that letter.

Today we're covering three things:

It looks like the top row: every cup filled to exactly the same level, week after week, same effort, same output, no matter what life is doing.

And when real life looks more like the bottom row, you decide you've failed.

But that top row has never been how consistent people actually live. It's just how consistency gets sold.

I’m a physical therapist. Every session in the clinic looks different.

I come in with a solid evaluation and plan of care. And then the patient walks in.

Sometimes they're sore and I need to adjust the exercises. Sometimes their pain has increased. Sometimes the exercise I planned wasn't challenging enough to push them forward.

Whatever the case may be, I adjust, and my patients still get results. Because I have a solid grasp of the anatomy, the kinesiology, and the underlying goal.

When you know the principle, you can use any method that fits the situation.

This is where "consistent in principle, flexible in method" came from.

And it's also why no two physical therapists treat the same way.

If you've worked with more than one PT in your life, you've probably noticed that they have different styles, exercises, approaches. But all are working toward the same outcome.

The same thing is true with healthy eating.

There's a compass. More plants, less processed food, better fats. Within that compass, the room for implementation is enormous.

Mediterranean, vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, DASH, or your own personal version built around your family, your culture, and the actual constraints of your life.

The compass is fixed. The path is yours.

Your commitment to the outcome stays fixed. The effort adjusts to whatever season you're in.

The bottom row of cups (some full, some half, one barely anything at all, but all of them something) is what consistency actually looks like across a real year.

The person who shows up every week at whatever level the day allows, and comes back the next week, is more consistent than the person who runs at full capacity for six weeks and then disappears.

Flexible Consistency is the only version of consistency that survives a real life.

I know. The fear is reasonable.

If the method can flex, what stops everything from slowly falling apart? If today's workout can be a walk, why can't tomorrow's workout be nothing?

This is when the method and the standard got fused. When they feel like the same thing, changing the method reads as abandoning the standard. And that feels like failure.

But they're separate things. Once you see them that way, the fear loses most of its grip.

Your standard is the outcome you're committed to: nourishing your body, moving regularly, protecting your sleep. Those hold.

Your method is how you get there on any given day. That one has a lot of room in it.

And that room is intentional. It's what makes the standard hold across years, not just the calm weeks.

Keeping the habit alive IS the standard during a hard week. The bar stayed exactly where it was.

You're still clearing it, at a different height than last month, maybe. But still clearing it. And clearing it at a different height is not the same thing as quitting.

The first time I truly lived this, not just believed in it, was when I let go of 100% plant-based and settled into 90%.

For a while, I tried to be perfect about it. No exceptions. The stress of maintaining that purity at family gatherings, in restaurants, while traveling, was quietly making things worse.

So I gave myself the 10%. I ended up being far more consistent at 90% over years than I ever was trying to hold 100% over months. (Full story here.)

The second time was my first trimester of pregnancy last year.

I was exhausted in a way I'd never experienced. The meal prep, the kickboxing, the morning routine were all gone.

So I adjusted. I ate what I could keep down. I moved when I had energy. I slept whenever possible.

The methods looked almost nothing like they used to. The standard, caring for my body through a hard season, stayed exactly where it was.

And it will, you have one job.

Do the minimum version. Your standard, dressed for a hard day.

Wednesday. Right then. Not next Monday, not when things settle down.

A 10-minute walk counts. A handful of vegetables counts. Showing up, when quitting was the easier option, counts most of all.

Flexible Consistency is the only version of consistency that survives a real life.

Now you know what it actually means. (And if you want the practical side when life gets busy and stressful: here.)

To the bottom row of cups,

Grazelle 🌱