The Definition Of Insanity

We are all familiar with the quote, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Often attributed to Albert Einstein (though heavily disputed), this definition of insanity is a reminder that we cannot expect change without first making a change. Though simple in concept, I think I should print this quote on stickers and stick them all over everything I own and my forehead. Despite being very aware of this definition of insanity, I expect my life to change magically out of thin air. As if one day I'll wake up and, regardless of my lack of change, everything will be different. Truly insanity at its finest.

In my delusional mind there is something about each day, some unforeseeable problem or roadblock, that caused me to go to sleep way too late, or made it impossible for me to fit a workout into my day, or forced me to eat snacks and watch television for hours. I don’t need to change anything, it was just a fluke. To be fair to myself, sometimes that is true. Okay, maybe not the last scenario in that list, but aside from that, things do happen, and days don’t always go to plan. That said, I can’t exactly blame a fluke when the same thing happens every day. If I want to do these things and I find that every day they don’t happen, that’s a glaring signal that I need to make a change. I know it sounds beyond obvious, but it is wild how long I can let myself sit and wait thinking that there aren’t any necessary changes to make.

I’ve been writing a lot lately about similar ideas. My posts Keeping Promises To Myself, Manifestation Without Action, and The Lies I Tell Myself have all been closely related and focused on the same topic of accountability. I don’t mean to be a broken record, but I’ve begun to notice just how important it is to hold myself accountable. I feel that this specific concept, the definition of insanity, deserves its own breakdown even though there is significant overlap with some of my other posts. I feel it is so deserving because of how pervasive the problem is. This quote didn’t get to be so famous for no reason. People relate. We are all so busy and I think we get stuck on the hamster wheel of life and forget that we can get off and do something else.

Change is hard. It is so much easier to keep doing the same thing over and over even if I do really want a different result. At some point, I have to weigh how important that different result is to me. If I want more free time, I can’t keep filling all my time and wait for days to have more than 24 hours. If I want to feel less stressed, I can’t keep doing the things that are causing my stress and hope that I’ll just become more resilient. Change can be terrifying, but I don’t want to be driven further into insanity just because I’m afraid to make some changes. Can you identify anywhere in your life where this definition of insanity is playing out? What change could you make to break the cycle?