Heads up, we are hanging up the 'out of office' shingle for a few weeks. Our friends are arriving this week to take over loving Kanti and enjoying the swake, while we do a little resting and breathing. It's time for a break from our work and the everyday routine. We are going to explore a few of the world's great cities. I am going to try to stay up past 9 p.m. and sleep beyond 5 a.m. As of this morning, I am not committing to any blogs while we are gone.
For those of you who have tried blogging, you will know it is a lot like an exercise routine. It's hard to do, week after week, and takes a tremendous amount of dedication and commitment to keep showing up. Over the last six years many people have said to me, "I have a blog, too."
Yes, they were telling the truth. They did have a blog. It had a post, or a few posts on an internet page. What was missing was the consistency over the long haul. Early on in my blogging efforts, I read that consistency of delivery was critical to building a readership. I began to work at consistency. In the beginning, I was happy if I posted on a weekend, then I increased the ante and decided to post on Saturdays. Somewhere along the journey, I set a goal to post before 8 a.m. on Saturday no matter where I was or what life was delivering.
As of this morning we have posted 284 blogs, many before the 8 a.m. self-imposed deadline. Some were delivered long after the deadline because I am too stubborn to give up. Our first blog was delivered February 2, 2012. We had already been sharing our tale by email for about eight months at that point, making the total number of posts closer to 320. If I was harbouring any doubts about my ability to stick to something, they should be annihilated now. Doubt, be gone.
If you calculate two, to two and a half hours per blog, that's about 750 hours of my life, I chose to use to write stories to and for you. At the beginning, it was only my family who read this stuff. Then a few friends joined the ride. Now friends of friends and total strangers check in weekly. Along the way, some of my views have shifted. Things I thought were important five years ago, aren't that important now. Other ideas have grown in significance with time.
Last year, I decided I wanted to encourage and inspire those who read. Adding those two words to my header was frightening. When you say you are going to do something, you have to make it happen. What if the things I thought were encouraging and inspiring, weren't received that way? What if I ran out of encouraging, inspiring material? All the what ifs piled into crevices of my brain. The what ifs were enough to make me shake with trepidation, and to think seriously about throwing in the towel. Amidst the self-doubt, we carried on. Wrestling those doubts out into the open and taking them on in the most public of venues - a blog.
What I know now, beyond any doubt, is that I have to write. I will continue to write. But for the next few weeks I am going to rest. We will be back to blogging on September 23. Thanks so much to each of you who reads faithfully. You are my encouragement. You are my inspiration. You are why I haven't given up. For the next few weeks we are going to concentrate on breathing. I hope this song, Just Breathe, encourages and inspires you like it does me.
For those of you who have tried blogging, you will know it is a lot like an exercise routine. It's hard to do, week after week, and takes a tremendous amount of dedication and commitment to keep showing up. Over the last six years many people have said to me, "I have a blog, too."
As of this morning we have posted 284 blogs, many before the 8 a.m. self-imposed deadline. Some were delivered long after the deadline because I am too stubborn to give up. Our first blog was delivered February 2, 2012. We had already been sharing our tale by email for about eight months at that point, making the total number of posts closer to 320. If I was harbouring any doubts about my ability to stick to something, they should be annihilated now. Doubt, be gone.
If you calculate two, to two and a half hours per blog, that's about 750 hours of my life, I chose to use to write stories to and for you. At the beginning, it was only my family who read this stuff. Then a few friends joined the ride. Now friends of friends and total strangers check in weekly. Along the way, some of my views have shifted. Things I thought were important five years ago, aren't that important now. Other ideas have grown in significance with time.
Last year, I decided I wanted to encourage and inspire those who read. Adding those two words to my header was frightening. When you say you are going to do something, you have to make it happen. What if the things I thought were encouraging and inspiring, weren't received that way? What if I ran out of encouraging, inspiring material? All the what ifs piled into crevices of my brain. The what ifs were enough to make me shake with trepidation, and to think seriously about throwing in the towel. Amidst the self-doubt, we carried on. Wrestling those doubts out into the open and taking them on in the most public of venues - a blog.
What I know now, beyond any doubt, is that I have to write. I will continue to write. But for the next few weeks I am going to rest. We will be back to blogging on September 23. Thanks so much to each of you who reads faithfully. You are my encouragement. You are my inspiration. You are why I haven't given up. For the next few weeks we are going to concentrate on breathing. I hope this song, Just Breathe, encourages and inspires you like it does me.
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