One Month Later

A month ago, I sang duets each morning with Mandisa as her voice boomed in my bathroom while I curled my hair.
               Today, I was too busy brainstorming ideas for future slices to notice any of her words.

A month ago, I was a careful driver, mindful of every twist and turn I needed to make on my way to sub at a new school.
               Today, I nearly missed my exit because I was lost in contemplation of the lessons I have learned from daily slicing,
               how this challenge has changed me, and how I want it to keep changing me.

A month ago, I thought blogging was an individual, isolated hobby.
               Today, I smile at how wrong I was, having experienced first hand the support, camaraderie, and even friendship that
               abounds in this wonderful community of writers.

A month ago, I was terrified to click "publish" on my first blog post.
               Today, hints of fear still resurface, but I now know that it's okay to be afraid, as long as it doesn't keep me from
               trying.

A month ago, I thought that only people who led interesting lives wrote intriguing slices.
               Today, I recognize that the best writers can transform even the most mundane, menial event into a beautiful,
               descriptive, thought-provoking "slice of life."

A month ago, "surfing the web" in my spare time meant perusing Facebook and Pinterest.
               Today, I find myself less interested in DIY crafts and more engrossed in exploring the writing craft of other slicers.

A month ago, "writers block" was an excuse not to write.
               Today, it is an opportunity to persist.

A month ago, 31 days of consecutive writing seemed like a daunting, even insurmountable, task.
               Today, it is an accomplishment I'm proud of.

Springing Forward with Excitement

This time of year, groans and complaints fill the air as people lament over "springing forward" and losing an hour of sleep. In an effort to look on the bright side of things, I want to focus on the events that are now a wee bit closer. We may have lost an hour of sleep, but I'm 60 minutes closer to these life events which will, Lord-willing, happen between now and November 2nd (when we "fall back")...

• I will get to watch my husband walk at graduation after he has poured himself into pursuing excellence for the last two years and finally earns an MBA. 
• I will finish all of my TESOL endorsement coursework thus, the last of my graduate studies. 
• I will cherish the days of spring, summer, and fall, and marvel at the beauty in the change of seasons. 
• I will submit job applications to every school in the near vicinity and hopefully receive some positive news from one of them, thus allowing me to begin my first ever full-time teaching job in the U.S. 
• If the above happens, then I will get to experience a true American "first day of school," where I will see the faces of those whom I will spend the next year reaching out to and trying my best to do everything I possibly can to assist them in their language development. 
• I will get to sit in the audience as my "little" brother walks across the stage at his high school graduation. 
• I will spend two and a half weeks "island hopping" in Greece with my favorite travel partner (my husband). 
• I will send my husband off to his first day of full-time work in the U.S. at a company he truly loves working for. 
• I will celebrate with my sister and welcome a new little niece or nephew into our family. 
• I will try, struggle, fail, and try again in so many areas as I seek to become a better Christ-follower, wife, daughter, sister, teacher, learner, athlete and friend. Then, hopefully, through persistence, I will make small steps toward achieving my goals, recognizing that the ultimate attainment of them will not come easily but it is important to persist in my pursuit of them each day. 
• I will treasure the days God has given me and seek to use them well! 

With so many things to look forward to, I can't help but be delighted that in springing forward, I am slightly closer to all of those events and experiences...and so many more! 

A New Year's Resolution Redo

I'd like to request a mulligan on my New Year's resolutions. I need a second chance to start over, bring my theoretical ball back to the beginning of the course and take another crack at swinging successfully. Is that allowed?

You see, sixty three days ago, I decided perform an act that is very uncharacteristic of me. I created a list of New Year's resolutions. I can't remember the last time I made a single New Year's resolution. That's not to say that I don't constantly seek to improve in various areas of my life, but I have just always avoided the formality of calling it a "New Year's resolution." I'm not sure what came over me this year, but I caught an intensified version of the bug everyone else seems to catch at that time of year and I sat down to write some goals for 2014. 

When I finished, I had composed a document of 35 New Year's resolutions. That's right...thirty five...organized into five different sub-categories. A bit excessive, right? When I do something, I apparently go all out. 

The document I created that day mocks me from my computer's desktop, causing me to cringe each time I acknowledge how many of those 35 resolutions I've already given up on. My motivation to keep such specific goals waned as soon as I experienced my first failure(s). 

However, I refuse to let my failure over the course of the last 63 days dictate how I will live the next 302. I recently read a quote by Oswald Chambers that convicted me: "Never let the sense of failure corrupt your new action." 

So, it is with Oswald Chambers' words running through my mind that I am requesting my New Year's resolutions mulligan. 

This semester, I have been observing a currently-practicing ESL teacher as part of my graduate coursework. I seem to learn new things from her each day I am in her class, but one thing I learned of in the beginning of the year was a new (or at least new to me) "trend" of making a one-word New Year's resolution. Rather than creating a laundry list of goals that are easily forgotten and forsaken, the idea is to embrace one single word that describes how you want to live and the kind of person you want to be. 

Inspired by this teacher and neat concept, I have been pondering this idea for the last month or so and have decided that it is one I want to embrace. I have "tried on" various words, but one that keeps coming back to me is: 

persist 

Dictionary.com tells me that to "persist" is to "continue steadfastly or firmly in some state of purpose, course of action, or the like, especially in spite of opposition, remonstrance, etc."

I want 2014 to be a year characterized by my continual, steadfast pursuit of becoming the Christian, wife, daughter, friend, teacher, learner, reader, writer, runner, cyclist, chef...and all-around person I want to ultimately be. 

Sometimes, I will fail. But failing to perfectly fulfill a New Year's resolution is not going to be enough to keep me from persisting on toward my goals.