I began the month of April with great writer goals. They were fun and ambitious, and I felt like I was ready to step up my efforts after a couple of months of winter slowness.
But then LIFE happened, as it sometimes does. We lost power twice, one of those times for over 30 hours, which resulted in throwing out a lot of spoiled food. Our dishwasher started pouring water all over the floor, and into the hard-wired smoke detector in the basement ceiling below it. The good news is that I’m quite confident I’ll never sleep through an actual fire. And now we have a new dishwasher.
Finally, when it seemed like I’d have a whole week without stupid practical troubles, I got hit by a case of vertigo that threw everything out of balance, quite literally.
None of these were terrible disasters. Honestly, every time another thing broke (see also – the kitchen faucet, the water kettle, and some things that required unexpected deep cleaning), I had good reason to think about people with much worse trouble. My life is good. No complaints. Just a series of incidents that have already turned into funny stories.
But the lesson I learned in January is still fresh in my mind: minor challenges still consume time and energy, even if they “could be worse.”
And this time, I did a better job of adapting. I gave myself the option to set my ambitious goals aside. At least until we found the right bribes for the house-gnomes.
But I didn’t WANT to set my ambitious goals aside. At least not completely. So I found compromises. I lowered my standards where I needed to. I found some projects that would still move things forward, but also allow me spend more time in my comfort zone instead of out of it. I grabbed some “easy wins” from the middle of my to-do lists, and moved them to the top.
And… it worked! I mean, no, I didn’t hit my ambitious goals. But I got further than I expected. And I enjoyed myself along the way. And I’m heading into May with MUCH less guilt than I might otherwise have had.