Last month I decided to take more time from my busy schedule and devote it to working on certain things I want to improve in my personal life. How is it going, you ask? Slower than I had hoped and yet I do see real progress being made. While concentrating more intently this past month on purposeful change, I have learned a few valuable lessons. Isn't that how it usually goes? I thought I would share these truths; you may find them helpful and enlightening:
1) The worst day is always the first day. Changing a habit or instigating something new is toughest at the start. Through repetition, however, new habits grow. They are strengthened with familiarity.
2) Friends make everything easier. If you want to succeed at a challenge, involve your friends. They have an amazing capacity to lighten physical, emotional, and mental burdens by simply being there.
3) Know what your objective is. Anything that does not contribute to that objective is unnecessary―let those things go.
4) Patience is not only a virtue, it is power, it is influence, it is the richest soil for personal growth.
5) Success is the result of moving forward. Concentrate on that fact, regardless of how slow or fast, how poorly or well things seem to be going. If you are moving forward, you are succeeding.
6) Believing in yourself is enough, but it sure is nice when another's kind words of encouragement kiss your ear. There is genuine strength in verbal expressions of support.
7) Laughing at yourself does more to heal the heart and mind than any medicine. Discouragement and despair cower under a good dose of laughter.
8) It is okay to alter your original plans. To try means to learn. To learn means to grow. To grow means to change.
I plan to keep at it this month and the next, and the next, and so forth. Time is a critical part of the equation when it comes to change and improvement. Wish me luck on my goals. Best of luck on your own personal goals as well. Remember, never give up!
I was thinking back over the past few months, savoring a sweet mix of relief, joy, and fulfillment at having finally published an entire young adult series. On April 26th, the last book in my Harrowbethian Saga was released. Not only did I write and edit this entire six-book adventure, I illustrated the covers and self-published the crazy story. It was more than I initially set out to do. Now that it's finished, I can hardly stop gazing at the completed saga sitting on my bookshelf. Who knew I had it in me to do something this big?
Honestly, if you had suggested that I attempt such a feat when I first set out to write a single book, I would have crinkled my nose and thought you were signing me up for a climbing hike where the goal was to reach the end of a rainbow. Yet here I am, basking under the colorful lights where an illusive rainbow has touched ground in my life. An enormous sense of satisfaction comes from accomplishing something so challenging. This truth got me thinking today.
There are other things I would love to accomplish. There are personal attributes I would like to improve upon, goals I long to finally reach, and certain wishes I hope to someday see come true. Most of these goals involve only me, my dreams. I have set them aside numerous times for the sake of priorities. They call this sort of patient procrastination a form of selflessness. They call it being mature and responsible. I don't regret the sacrifices I have made for the benefit of worthwhile people and causes, but I am growing older and feel my determination increasing with age. With my boys reaching adulthood, I find I have greater amounts of time to myself—
as well as less time left on this planet—
which makes me think that now is when I can and should invest in my own dreams.
Silly thing—
I was thinking about how tomorrow is the month of May, a new month, a new beginning, another stretch of springtime where many things are born and blossoming and sprouting from seed. I had the thought that this should be my month to concentrate on improving certain attributes about myself. Things I want to improve. It should be the month of me. Yes, a month all about me. Not in a selfish, irresponsible, ignore-the-needs-of-others sort of way, but in a growing, developing, mending, and moving-closer-in-line-with-the-person-I-visualize-myself-to-be sort of way. It is possible and it is productive to concentrate on yourself unselfishly—
as paradoxical as it sounds.
So this is my goal. The month of May will be the month of Me. I expect great things from myself. The way I see it, any lady who can write an entire six-book, young adult series must have some magic and muchness in her. Wish me luck. I have things to do.
