These days, I live in a lush, thriving forest.
But it’s not a forest of trees; it’s a forest of habits.
Sobriety. Meditation. Eating salad. Exercise. Reading. Deep work.
This is the ecosystem in which I live.
Over the years, I’ve been planting seeds and tending to them. They sprout, turning into saplings. They start small and fragile. But with time and care, they put down deep roots, growing tall and strong.
Under the boughs of older habits, new ones gain a foothold. Through the mycorrhizal root network, they receive support from their elders. Each new tree strengthens the ecosystem in an upward spiral of ever-increasing growth.
You can’t grow a forest overnight. You can’t think in terms of weeks or months; you have to think in terms of years and decades.
What seed will you plant today?
Chris Loper has been writing about self-improvement and helping busy adults with habit formation since 2017.
He also writes an education blog for parents and students for Northwest Educational Services.
Along with Greg Smith, Chris is the cocreator of Parenting for Academic Success, a series of transformative classes that create empowered parents, confident students, and harmonious families.
His most recent endeavor combines his academic and habit-formation expertise to help students thrive in college. Visit SmartCollegeHabits.com to learn more.
In 2021, Chris published a humorous memoir titled Wood Floats and Other Brilliant Observations, a book that blends crazy stories with practical life lessons.
He lives in Issaquah, WA where he is the owner of South Cove Tutoring.