Oh good lord. Lesson learned. What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?
I learned that questions like this irk me, partly because it seems really hard to point to A Thing I Learned, to one discrete lesson or “aha” moment. I’m not Oprah, after all.
That said, however, a few things have crawled into the margins of my consciousness–not all things I’ve learned, necessarily–more remembered and put into practice.
It’s easier to keep writing than to start writing. Which means that I should write every day and that once I’m over the hurdle of starting something (so painful, so slow, so what-the-hell-am-I-wanting-to-say), I must keep at it instead of letting my own writing slide to the bottom of the Important Stuff list. Kfitz, at Planned Obsolence, has a pretty similar thought–once something is started, it’s a lot easier to keep it going.
Same principle: easier to keep exercising than to stop for a few months and then get back in the rhythm. Don’t laugh, but sweating makes me happy. I’m a bit of an endorphin junkie, and while I’m never going to be a marathoner or a triathaloner (yes, Cabot, and Suzie, people of steel, I’m talking you) my little yoga class keeps me happily sweat-soaked.
What else? I learned a few not so nice things about myself, having to do with temper (too much) and patience (not enough), but as Scarlett likes to say (O’H, not J), “I’ll think about that tomorrow.”
I’ve learned I can hold down the fort while husband travels, and I’ve learned that without a group of friends to rely for all-important battery recharging, I’m useless.
So that’s the plan, going forward: keep writing, keep yoga-ing, keep with the friends. Gosh. A gal could think that maybe a balanced life is within her reach. Or at least being less stressed about being OUT of balance.
