Day 2-When Enjoyment Isn’t Fun
It was just about a week ago that I discovered the 31 Day
challenge on The Nester. The objective is to post on the same topic every day in the
month of October. Actually, I don’t
remember if they call it a challenge, but the thought of writing something
every day for 31 days on a single topic certainly sounded like a challenge to me.
I was inspired.
It didn't take long for me to decide what I wanted to learn
and write about, it was fun to think about fun
and enjoyment. I started making notes
and drafting posts, and I was surprised at where my head went with the
topic. I was surprised at how the ideas
flowed. I was surprised at how easy it was.
Part of the challenge is to link to The Nester blog so that
your posts show up there under a category you choose. You do this via a button
with a grab box and a permalink. Right
after that, you perform brain surgery. Well, according to the tips on the blog
and other tutorials, brain surgery seemed the next logical thing I’d be asked to
do, since I couldn’t figure out this button/box/link thing to save my life.
Now, for some reason, there is the thought out there among people who know me
that I am technologically knowledgeable.
This is wrong. So wrong. I did not start this rumor. I think it may have started because ever
since the smart phone was invented, I have had one in my hand and I use it for
everything it can do. But I don’t know how it does it, and really, I don’t
care. To participate in this challenge I
needed to know how things worked to make them work.
I asked my technologically unafraid daughter. I read more tutorials. I asked a girlfriend
who had some helpful tips, but by that time I had discovered something. I WASN'T ENJOYING THIS.
I had spent so much time on the dumb tech stuff that I wasn't where I wanted to be in planning posts. I wasn't writing. I’m behind and I haven't even
started. I was about five minutes away
from giving up. Maybe next year when I
had more time to learn all this stuff. Maybe
when I was more prepared. I was
disappointed; I had been so excited to write.
It was then that a quiet thought floated across my mind in a comic strip
text balloon- so just write.
Part of the objective of linking is to attract readers to
your blog. I realized that wasn't part of
my motive at all, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I just wanted to see if I could do this. Guess what? I can do this.
Well, I can start this; we have to wait until November 1 to see if I
finish it. But it brought up this
question-
How many things have I “failed” at because I lost sight of the motive?
Sometimes you have to persevere to obtain enjoyment. Sometimes, you just let it go so you can
remember what sounded enjoyable about it in the first place. Then just do it. Leave the overcrowded restaurant when the
wait is an hour and go to Ty’s Burger House.
Unless you are at Ty’s, then it’s worth persevering. Don’t link to the blog, use apples instead of
peaches in the cobbler, and nobody cares if your wall paint matches your throw
pillows exactly. Really.
Have you ever given up on something because you lost the enjoyment of
it in the midst of it?
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