Chapmanesque—Sit Down, Be Humble(d)
I was trucking right along. Seven straight Chapmanesque posts on seven straight weekends. I’d gotten the flow in place, typing early in the week, revising through the remainder of the week, and scheduling a published post for the wee hours of Saturday mornings.
Then life got in the way—work demands, family demands, personal demands, all of it.
I missed a weekend post, telling myself just as James Clear tells us, if you miss one, don’t miss two in a row. Duly noted. I’m on it.
Then I missed a second weekend post.
You can do anything. You can’t do everything.
We have these ebbs and flows in life that offer up bundles of extra time. This extra time allows us to swim in our creative world, whatever that world may be—writing, music, painting, gardening, hunting, you name it. I like to write, and I like to podcast. When those bundles of time are present, I get to free-skate in that world.
But we have those times where the 24-hours in our days just aren’t enough. We all get the same amount of time in a day, so we can’t say that privileged ones get more hours than those not-so-privileged. Responsibilities and obligations creep their way into our schedules and occupy our time. Those things are planned, most of the time. We know when a slew of meetings, gatherings, dinners, deadlines, this, that and the others are present. I mean, we did put them on our schedules.
Then there’s the unplanned interruptions. In my case, it was the sickness.
I run off high-octane energy, and I love it. I love getting to be part of the great things that happen at work, in my family or in my community. But when the sicknesses strip me of energy, there’s nothing I can do. Since I can’t alter this feeling, I have no choice but to do as Kendrick Lamar said and “sit down, be humble.”
I don’t let these moments slip by without trying to nail down a memory to hang onto for when I get back to full speed. There are times when you don’t want to do some things and then times when you just can’t do some things.
There will always come a time when the fastest cheetah or the strongest ox can’t run or can’t pull. That time comes for everyone, so we should never take our opportunities and abilities for granted.
Discipline’s have a purpose
That’s the entire purpose behind this self-induced discipline of trying to publish something every week. It’s not to get looks, even though it’s nice when people read what I write (and sometimes comment on it).
It’s to exercise the muscles within a skill I’ve been given to sharpen myself. It’s a task to work on aspects where I’m lacking so that my weaknesses can be stronger than they were yesterday.
It’s not easy; it can be, but it’s not always. When I’m locked in, boy am I ever locked in. But when things get in the way and make me stumble, part of the lessons learned is to get back at it. The goal is to never miss, but the rule is not to miss twice. But when I do, jumping back on the train is a choice.
This entry may not have some large, ground-breaking maxim, but it’s my effort to follow through on a commitment I made to myself.
I have a feeling I’m not alone on this. Jump back on the train. Let’s go!
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