Saturday, January 2, 2016

"Enough" Limits

Put a Limit on Not Being Enough
I can limit that voice, that overseer that
constantly reminds me I’m not enough.
I have a nasty cold and I have zero energy. My bills are behind and the house is dirty. I’m way behind on work, and a week from tomorrow I leave to go north for three weeks. I have a mess in my rental house to clean up. It all is so overwhelming. It’s 10:30 in the morning and I haven’t accomplished much today. A bit of cleaning and clearing. Walking dogs. Trash and recycling out. It isn’t enough. It seems like it’s never enough day to day regardless of how much I do. It’s only January 2, and I feel like I have a year’s worth of things that are undone.
What can I do today so that at the beginning of the day tomorrow I will not feel so overwhelmed? First, I can cut myself a huge helping of slack. The week spent blowing my nose and watching Netflix could not be helped. Getting out of bed too soon complicated my recovery from this cold. I can’t do the things I would have done in the last six days had I been well. That whole year’s worth of things to do? At the beginning of each year, each of us has a year’s worth of things to do. They might not be stacks of clutter or paper or floors that must be mopped and carpets cleaned and flowerbeds weeded, but it’s a year nonetheless.
That year of things facing me? That year is made of 365 days. Today is only one of them. It’s limited. I’m limited. If I were to resolve anything for this second day of the year, it would be to recognize that this day is limited. I can do only so much. I steal and negate my own energy by chastising myself for what is undone as I begin this day or any day. I can limit that voice, that overseer that constantly reminds me that I’m not enough. I am enough, yesterday, today, and each tomorrow of the year that awaits me.

Friday, January 1, 2016

Failure Occurs Without Effort--Without Resolve

Failure Might Occur
It Will If You Don’t Even Try
Go ahead. Do it. You know you want to make New Year’s resolutions. Ah, but you hesitate because you’ve been led to believe that you will set yourself up for failure. You’ve been led to believe that sweeping changes aren’t possible. You remember those other resolutions that ended in the first hours, days, or weeks of previous new years. Failure might occur, but it definitely occurs if one doesn’t even try. Even a day or an hour spent at something positive is more than zero time.
Resolutions in hand or not—it is a new year. This first day, we approach a not-yet-filled slate of days, weeks, and months. It’s fresh; it holds possibilities, dreams, hopes.
It’s a fine thing to pin your heart, your thoughts, and actions to the possibilities that await you.
It’s a fine thing to pin your heart to the dreams you want to fulfill. It’s a fine thing to think about and decide what you want.
To make possibilities and dreams a reality, you must take action. Resolve leads to resolutions and then to action. It’s a fine thing to make some resolutions.