Reflections: Challenge Accepted

One [person] with courage is a majority.

Thomas Jefferson

I am notorious for starting projects but not finishing them. I do not believe it is so much a lack of discipline as it is getting distracted with the next biggest, brightest, shinier star, because all of them should be in my sky, right?  “Not really,” I often have to remember to tell myself. Sometimes, I believe I just have a fear of actually succeeding, of being rewarded something for which I worked so hard.  Who could imagine that it could be possible to not really want to succeed?

I learned, this month, that I as much as I love writing and would do it every waking moment of my existence (or some form of it including theater, sermoning, reading and the like), I worry constantly about what people would think about it.  Take this blog/newsletter, for instance, I write and write and some days posts that are to come out, do not make it out.  Funny thing is, I often have a post in the back lined up somewhere that would have worked, but I felt it was subpar for whatever reason.  Yes, quality is importance, but not at the risk of self-sabotage.

So what are we self-sabotaging? Where are we in our lives that we are stopping ourselves from receiving a blessing because we stop just short of the moment. I often wonder what would have happened if we just stayed the course.  Even as I write this, my mind is racing and I have 3 other possible Peace and Praise subjects open, some started, others a mere title, a play and a bibliography for a grant, in separate window.  Talk about a need to get it all together! 

What we need to do in situations such as these is to simply focus and prioritize.  What had to happen? And what is it that we need to do first.  For me, which article should I write first (probably the one that comes out today!)? I have written before about the need to finish projects, and today, the last Friday in August, I am declaring my acceptance of the Challenge. To be more focused, more diligent, and actually complete some tasks.  To shut down the 50-11 windows I have open at any given time to make room for concentrating on just one thing.

Consider issuing a small self-challenge and accepting it.