Exploring consistency vs. commitment and the 100 Day Project
creative practices and lunar tracking
We all want to be more creative all the time … am I right?
Or is this notion just toxic productivity culture dressed up in cute linen pants and an organic cotton t-shirt dyed with home-grown indigo? It’s so appealing, yet being more creative does not necessarily = better or happier.
Honestly it’s a fallacy. Creativity needs fallow time to regenerate.
To renew itself.
Energy fluctuates, that is the nature of seasons and cycles.
I’ve noticed a subtle difference between commitment and consistency — between being MORE creative and tending to your creative energy as a channel of aliveness.
It’s a fruitful topic to explore in relationship with your own energetic capacity. I encourage you to bring these themes to your practice of self-study in relationship with cycles and track in the Lunation Journal1 and see what happens.
Notice what structures support the regeneration of your creative flow.
And what depletes it.
In case our path’s are crossing for the first time — hi I’m April: artist, mother, founder of themoonismycalendar 🌙 poetic plant person and 🌸 budding flower essence practitioner. I create and publish circular moon calendars to support self-study in relationship with cycles.
Showing up no matter what can actually deplete the creative juices.
Over-emphasizing the importance of consistency can have the result of flattening out the dynamic nature of being a cyclical being.
Inadvertently this turns a circle into a line.
If I’m being totally honest, consistency is overrated. There, I said it. Consistency as it pertains to creative practice is actually less important than following curiosity.
Something to ponder: When is consistency at odds with being cyclical?
Notice which approach that you respond to and what helps you show up for what matters to you. To me the goal with any practice is to see what actually helps you rise to the occasion more and more often.
Commitment is akin to devotion
Consistency has more of a flavor of discipline
One approach is more lunar in nature, and one is more solar. Can you guess which one is which? Devotion is so lunar and consistency much more solar. Not better or worse, just what works.
Consistency is not necessarily the goal.
Lunar tracking help us honor our energy and not over-ride our capacity.
In itself it is an act of devotion. Being curious, developing your own life-long relationship that deepens over time. Asking questions and make connections between: Where is the moon right now? Where are you right now?
Do you have to track every day? No, you are allowed to ebb and flow.
Have you observed that what you show up for, shows up for you?
As if an energy field forms around your practice.
Perhaps you are showing up for:
your creative spark
embodying more joy
noticing patterns that deplete you
curiosity, compassion, and expanding your capacity
connecting with nature and being more rhythmic in life
shifting relationship dynamics within yourself or with others
If you are committed to showing up for yourself and the moon as a devotional practice, you become more stable, and dare I say, more consistent over time.
Start where you are. The magic of commitment will meet you halfway!
Creativity LOVES a container.
My opinion is that you don’t have to make something every day to receive the benefits of creative expression.
If you are not familiar with the 100 Day Project it is a free global art project that takes place online. It’s been around since 2014 and offers structure and community for creating something of your choosing.2
Here’s my take: it gives you a container to create within.
I see the 100 Day Project like a dare.
It’s a dare that calls forth commitment and opens the door to magic!
my first rodeo #100 days of lunar landscapes
Wow it feels like 100 years ago looking back now!
My first attempt to complete a 100 Day Project I was in a very early phase of motherhood. I was still potty training my now teenager wondering if I would ever be able to function in society again.
I was struggling to shower and brush my teeth everyday.
Let alone make a body of artwork.
That was in 2016… so actually a decade ago when I was teaching art to elementary school students and experimenting with lots of different mediums.
This project had the vibe of low stakes and messing around: dare I say optimal conditions for the muse to appear.
Looking back I do also recall the ways that creativity and chaos were closely linked. I still was un-learning patterns of overdoing. Burning the midnight oil was a regular occurrence after singing and reading my kids to sleep.
Committing to this project and having accountability and encouragement online was glorious! I’m so grateful for showing up to create something even if it wasn’t every single day. In fact, I may have only made twenty of the one hundred days.
Instead of being a failure, this attempt was a stepping stone.
Strengthening the muscle of commitment and noticing my energetic capacity and the structures that were still developing to be able to show up more rhythmically was such a gift.
take 2: 100 days of radiant openings
Fast forward six years later to 2022, this time Spring was calling.
The magic of commitment turned my focus to connecting with flowers as seasonal timekeepers with unique forms and gestures.
In the end I drew and painted 55 blooms in 100 days. Even though that was about every other day, I got so much out of it and shared my process and joy along the way.
One hundred was never the goal for me.
The flowers opened the spark of creative expression.
An intimacy with their forms.
Phases of blooming.
Radiant openings.
This project didn’t have a “purpose” or strategy other than drawing flowers as they began blooming in Spring. What I didn’t realize is that it would lay the foundation for the moonflower series that was to come.
Another stepping stone that only now makes sense in hindsight.
lessons learned from my 100 day projects…
do it for the joy and curiosity
allow for breathing room
make it quick 5-10 minutes max!
consistency is a byproduct of devotion
be prepared for a floodgate of creative energy to flow through
also be prepared to meet the Resistance (à la the book The War of Art)
“failures” are stepping stones
Is there lessons learned you would add from your experience? I’m tempted to hop on the 100 Day train again this year, even though it’s already day 4ish, the beautiful thing is you can start where you are.
And starting creates momentum.
Sending many blessings,
xo April
p.s. What about you? Do you have a creative project you’re working on - I’d love to know. Share it in the comments below!!
In case you haven’t already purchased your copy of the 2026 Moon Calendars, use code: LUNARFLOW for 10% off your order to support your practice of lunar tracking to connect with your creativity and unique energetic flow.
The Lunation Journal is a tool for regenerative practices. For connecting with the wisdom of all the phases in a personal and sustainable way.
Read more about how the 100 Day Project got started: Interview with Elle Luna
Love the stepping stones reflections. Seeing dots connect across our past and threaded into the present. Working with needle felting dolls at the moment. It’s reflecting so much to me x
oof, yes, consistency is a byproduct of devotion. I will carry that phrase with me! Creativity is such a part of who I am, but recently this past year, I've been observing and repatterning what creativity IS for me. Am I abusing it (right?! that was a revelation) by forcing myself to create? Always having been so attuned, I see what's needed before many. So, historically I would create what I saw was a gap in creating a better world for us as humans (most recent was a school I created and it thrived but I burned out!!).
So now I'm in a space of, who/what/why am I creating? And that has been a challenging but fruitful shift. Now, I have a little studio space (I turned half of our shed outside into it!) that is just mine. I go in there and putter, make marks, drink tea, read astrology, think thoughts. I am grateful I don't have to keep to a "consistent" schedule these days so I can really root into cyclical creating...and living.
This new era for me? It's creativity on my terms, and that's new. Yet welcomed. And my attunement has become something that I use with discernment now, and am creating with MYSELF included in the whole health of the thing. And I'm noticing....that yes, consistency is a byproduct of devotion truly. You were just able to put the words to something I have recently begun noticing and experiencing. Thank you!