“Not all those who wander
are lost.”
“Not I, nor anyone else can
travel that road for you.
You must travel it by
yourself.
It is not far. It is within
reach.
Perhaps you have been on it
since you were born, and did not know.
Perhaps it is everywhere -
on water and land.”
I’m not sure what to write at the
moment. I just know I have a goal
and, due to an error on my part, instead of being closer to my goal, I’m
actually further from it. This
blog will get me to where I was yesterday. Then I can move forward again. When I discovered the problem last night, that two
blogs were actually just rough drafts that somehow got published, I immediately
thought of Steven Pressfield’s words in The War of Art:
The danger is greatest when the
finish line is in sight. At this
point, Resistance knows we’re about to beat it. It hits the panic button. It marshals one last assault and slams us with everything
it’s got. The professional must be
alert for this counterattack.
(Page
18)
I
have ten days to write 27 blogs. I
don’t feel like the finish line is in sight at all. I feel like I’m running a marathon but I don’t have the
luxury of pacing myself; I have to sprint. I remember the last time I sprinted. Actually, I just walked really fast.
It was the Susan
G. Komen 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer.
It was about 20 miles a day.
And I really didn’t know what I was doing. I just thought it would be fun to walk that much. The first and second days were
extremely hard, especially the second day. On the night of the second day, there was a show and a dance
for the participants. Then there
was an exercise coach who happened to mention a way to walk more quickly and
efficiently, by moving the arms along with the body. I tried it. I
also made sure not to stop too often as I had on the previous two days. I just kept going and I kept walking,
stopping only to eat or use the restroom.
But my time was about six hours so I was pretty happy.
How did I do
it? I did two things.
1.
I kept putting one foot in front of the other. Most of the time that was easy. I had adrenaline and enthusiasm pushing
me forward. Sadly, I spent a lot
of time thinking angry thoughts about people who made it a point not to support
me for this walk. Still, I refused
to let even negative emotions slow my progress.
2.
I refused to stop unless I had to. I knew if I stopped too often or even slowed down, it would
take me forever to reach the finish line.
In fact, some people didn’t finish. They had to be picked up by shuttles. I was determined not to be one of those
people. I had no judgment about
them; I just didn’t want to be one of them.
That’s what this
goal of 150 blog is like. It’s
like this crazy 3-Day walk. By the
way, I wasn’t paid for my time or efforts. In fact, I had to raise $2,000 in order to participate. Raising the funds is its’ own
story. This was before I had read The
War of Art, but I definitely learned about
Resistance. I was amazed at the number
of people who were against this, including two women, one who had breast
cancer!
Still, that wasn’t
my greatest resistance. My
greatest resistance was focusing on the negative aspects of my journey. The truth is that, despite my
detractors, I raised all the money I needed and more. I was able to use some of my donations to help others raise
their funds.
Both the walk and
my 150-blog-goal remind me of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey described in The
Hero of a Thousand Faces:
A
hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural
wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won:
the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow
boons on his fellow man.
That all sounds very encouraging. It’s what I achieved when I did the
walk. I’ve done it other
times. But often the hero resists
the call. I’ve done that far too
often when I’ve been lazy, angry, negative or afraid.
I resist or have resisted the call
·
Every time I don’t study
·
When I give into my
children’s whining
·
When I exceed the speed
limit
·
When I complain
·
When I gossip
·
When I spend my thought
life in resentment or regret.
I’m not saying I’m a hero, but I can be. It’s mostly about doing my best and
setting examples. Doing the 3-Day
walk helped me to prove to the world and to myself that I could do the
difficult stuff and see it through to the end. I’ve done it before and I can do it again.
Sometimes, for me, the hardest part of the journey is
between the halfway and three-fourths point. I’m at the worst point possible. There is pressure, but no
reward. The clock is ticking and, honestly, it does not look like I’m going to
make it. I’ve gone too far to turn
back and I’ve invested too much time to quit. At the same time, the end looks so far away. It feels like it’s never going to
end. And, even if I do reach my
goal, I have no guarantee of any results but sore fingers and wondering if I
should have spent my time doing something else.
But I’m past the half-way mark, so I’m going to keep
going. Maybe I’m being dramatic,
but I think there’s something at stake here. I have no idea what it is. I just know I need to do my best. I just know that I need to Get Started and Keep Going.
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