Escaping the Seductive Comfort of Fake Progress

Why do we do everything, except the thing that matters? 🙄

Imperfect digital illustration by me ✨

I finally brought myself to declutter my pantry the other day.
Multiple rice bags, expired flour (I never bake), and… sardine cans. One, two,…, six, … fourteen sardine cans.

I made little piles and stared at them in disbelief.

I mean…seriously?

As an endo girl, all I ever hear about is the importance of lowering inflammation in the body. Shout out to my endo sisters, I see you! 🫶🏻

Certain products are considered superfoods in that department. And sardines are the one I kept hearing about all year.

Packed with omega 3, low in mercury, high in protein, cheap. Just perfect.

“Already cleaned and cooked”, I thought, “Minimal friction. Perfect.”

Plus, I also found out that canned goods can be perfectly healthy when they’re made of whole ingredients only.

I found a few clean brands, and every time I came across them in the supermarket, I’d grab a couple of cans. With lemon, with tomato sauce, with olive oil.

“Why is she rambling about sardines?” you might be asking yourself at this point.
Stay with me, I promise I’m going somewhere with this.

---

A Familiar Pattern

Here’s the thing: I don’t like sardines all that much.
I only enjoy them cooked the Moroccan way. That means, adding some spices, preserved lemons, herbs. Mixing it all, and baking them for a while.
In other words, a whole lot of friction for the lazy cook that I am.

With an off-balance enjoyment-to-effort ratio, this turned into many sardines in my pantry, and very few in my stomach.

I stared at the sardines pile and realized something: I love the idea of me consuming sardines and getting my body all that lovely omega 3, but… I don’t love the execution part as much.

And without actually consuming the fish, that’s all that was ever going to be: an idea.

I realized this was a pattern in my life.
I fall in love with the image of me doing something.
I think about doing it.
I buy stuff that’ll help me do it.
But the actual doing rarely happens, or not enough to be impactful.

In my life, this shows up in other areas as well:
- Boxes and boxes of art supplies.
- Various working out outfits, gadgets and apps.
- Piles of unread books.
- Endless home improvement to do lists.
All gathering dust.

I’m not 100% clear on why I do this.
I’m guessing lack of energy, sometimes? Self-protection? A weakened attention span?

But I know I’m not the only one.

---

An intention for 2026

Entering the new year, I’m more determined than ever to set a clear intention:

2026 will be the year of doing, no matter how small or imperfect.

Less time in my head, more output.
Less consumption, more experimentation.

And guess what? I’m inviting you to join me.

As we pursue our mission of becoming 1% wiser each day, we will stop endless consumption and simply start doing more. Creating more. Trying more.
Even if it’s garbage. Who cares if the painting is ugly?

In reality, none of the sardine buying, podcasts listening, or tools collecting matters if we skip the doing part.
These give us the illusion of progress. A little dopamine hit.
Nothing else.

Self-awareness is what made this pattern visible to me. And once we see a pattern clearly, we get to choose differently.

So? Are you in? ✨

Did this pattern feel familiar to you? Tell me where it shows up in your life. It’d help to know I’m not alone in this 🤭