SUCCESS and FAILURE-- Finding Motivation in Each

Monday I shared my thoughts on strength and training. Today, Wednesday, I’m sore. Achy. I spent my Tuesday night with my typical routine and I’m taking a break between my Wednesday morning sets to write. (Muscles are tense,  but I’m going back in there!)

What’s up with that? Why do I do this to myself?

I can’t help but laugh at the thought process that is going through my mind:

“Wow, those shoulders are sore, Juli.”

“Must need to loosen them up a bit. That a.m. spinning class will help.”

“Protein?”

“Sure, I’ll fix a strawberry/banana smoothie as soon as the workout is finished. That will help.”

But what I haven’t said yet, is that even my HANDS are tight. How am I thinking I can exercise and write in the morning if one activity negates the other? Shouldn’t I give up? Ditch the writing today?

That’s when this handy little thing called MOTIVATION kicks in.  I want to write. And I want to be strong.

But it helps to have a bit of SUCCESS and FAILURE first.

Let me start with FAILURE. I’m a bit like rabbit running from a predator. I dart from one direction to the next by nature. I’ve failed at so many things I’m not even sure where to start but I’ll narrow it to three areas:

·         Sports—I stink. My coordination and focus is limited. If a stray ball comes my way, I duck.

·         Cooking—Let’s just say my best meal involves mac n’ cheese and stop at that.

·         Math—There are many reasons I married my husband. Math is on that list. (Along with hundreds of better reasons!)

Don’t get me wrong. I still DO these things. But there are so many FAILURES among these categories that I’ve nearly given up. Nearly, but not completely.

Because somewhere in there, sometime in my past, there has been SUCCESS.

·         Sports—Sure, I can’t catch, throw, or dribble a ball, but I can maintain a plank for longer than I thought possible and spin on a exercise bike with the best.

·         Cooking—I’m a fabulous reader! If I have a good recipe, I can make it happen. I make a mean stuffed mushroom appetizer!

·         Math—Geometry. I get it. I can manipulate, translate, slide and divide into symmetrical sections. My quilts have PERFECT seam allowances!

So despite my flops and flaws in specific areas of skill, the point is I still TRY. Even though my SUCCESS has at times seemed small, I have it!

Just as there are thousands of ways to look at a piece of artwork, there are thousands of ways to approach your life. You can choose to focus on the FAILURES or move forward knowing you can SUCCEED!

I could take every one of my failures and give up. If so, I would ever get near anything related to sports. If I did that, I’d miss out on the opportunity to play a pickup game of knock-out with my students at recess. Even though I lose the game early on, every time, I form a bond with them. That’s a SUCCESS not a failure.

I could completely quit cooking. I admit, I’ve come close to this one. (A kitchen can be a crafting center, right?) Yet, my boys need fresh, hot cookies. And…. Adding a bit of cheese on top of everything DOES make it taste better!

I could give up math. Na… I ‘m a writer! I have word-counts! It’s all in the way you look at things. Math as word-count goals is a challenge but I have meet 50,000+ every year for the past three years during NaNoWriMo. That is SUCCESS enough in math for me!

Essentially, it does boil down to how you want to look at your life. You can make these choices. No one else will do it for you. I want to write and I want to be strong.  I’m not going to linger on the failures. By focusing on the past successful moments, no matter how minuscule they are, I’m going to keep moving forward.

FAILURE—it happens, but take it for what it is. A moment that is now in your past.  Instead, see it as an opportunity to make something different happen. That’s when you’ll find the SUCCESS you are looking for.