Day 10 - I feel strongly

You’ll notice it’s been six days since my last post. Don’t hold it against me, it’s been a busy week. This is exactly what I want to talk about today. I gave myself this writing challenge with the expectation that I would write about each assigned topic for 30 consecutive days. Well, I’m here to say I didn’t do it, and it’s been absolutely fine. 

Let me tell you why it’s fine. I have been learning and practicing giving myself GRACE. This writing challenge is meant to be something fun I can do for myself to practice putting words on paper. It’s only for me. (Well, and you, if you’ve been reading) At the end of each day this week, I knew I should write my next post, but I just didn’t feel like it. And you know what? That’s ok.

In the past, I would have felt guilty or like a failure for not completing or committing fully to some goal I made for myself. I think it’s pretty classic at the beginning of the new year to make goals, give it a couple weeks, then toss that goal out the window. 

It’s really hard to create new habits. It’s especially hard to create a new habit that takes 30-60 minutes a day. I think if I would have started small, like maybe one post a week, I would have felt more successful in achieving my goal of completing a 30 day writing challenge.

But guess what? I’m still here. I haven’t given up. I’ve given myself the honor of knowing when to really push myself and when to just say “Hey, you have done a great job already”. And I am so proud of myself for spending all this time writing words and sharing them with others. 

I could have written posts last week. But I wasn’t in the mind-set to sit down and write how I wanted to write. You may have noticed I shared a numbered list and a short post about a meaningful song. I want to be able to write words that are meaningful to me, and also maybe to someone else. So I took a break.

Do you have a hard time giving yourself grace? I think most people do. Many of us hold ourselves to incredibly high expectations and when we don’t meet them, we feel like failures. Well, our expectations of ourselves are INSANE. There really is only so much we can dedicate our time and energy to. Whether it’s your job, your significant other, your children, or your schoolwork. If you give yourself a little grace you will be able to tackle things with a new passion.

I’m back for day 10 and will continue to make my way through the next 20 days. I may or may not post everyday, and it will be ok.

Take a break.
Recharge.
Come back better than before.
You deserve it.

Featured Photo by Amanda Jones on Unsplash