365 Inspirations—217: Blogging

Reflection of me blogging 365 Lessons in 2010

"Thinking or dreaming about what you want to do won't get you any closer to it. Just get out there and do it!"—Katherine Jenkins

I've been blogging here since 2009! This is my little corner of the World Wide Web. It's where I share stories, connect with other bloggers, write posts about inspirational people places and things, converse with regular friends here and make new friends and discover new blogs. This is the place where I write and keep a regular practice of writing. By announcing, back on January 1, 2013, that I would write a blog post every single day, I'm holding myself accountable publicly for my writing. So far I've written 217 posts this year. That's over 7 months of blogging every single day!

Why do I do it? Well, one thing I've discovered is that blogging every day about the things and people I find inspirational has helped me to focus on the positive and inspirational in my own life. What you focus on you become. I've found this to be absolutely true for me.

Another reason why I write here everyday is because I've found that by showing up daily to this blog I've gotten in the regular habit of writing and now I can truly call myself a writer.

It's not easy to show up here and write a post every day and I can't promise you that every post I write will be fantastic. All I can promise is that I will be here and that the post I write here will be related to something that I find inspiring. 

Today it's blogging. Blogging is my inspiration. It's led me to many other blogger friends, to my agent and to a book deal. It's opened up a portal to another world I didn't know existed. It's expanded my scope of the world and connected me to people across boundaries, countries and continents. This was not possible when I was a high school student. That's perhaps why much of my ealier writing was in journals now packed away in boxes. 

I can't promise you I'll blog forever, but I'm blogging now. I'm still here writing and that in itself is something. I think it's easy to throw in the towel when things start to get tough or we lose interest or we are having a bad day. It's usually the time when most people give up. 

Lots of people want to call themselves writers or bloggers, but they don't write or blog—at least not regularly. To be good at something, you have to do it. 

Thinking or dreaming about what you want to do won't get you any closer to it. Just get out there and do it!

Do you blog or write regularly? What is keeping you from doing these things?

365 Inspirations—154: Still Going

"Write every day, just to keep in the habit, and remember that whatever you have written is neither as good nor as bad as you think it is."—Jane Smiley

 Still. Going. Aren't those two words funny side by side. I'm still, but I'm going. Time keeps moving and every single day I wonder how I can keep going or if I can keep going, but I'm still here...blogging!

I'm coming up on SIX SOLID MONTHS of writing and blogging every single day. I have no idea what will pop up here. I have several interviews lined up with interesting and inspiring people, but the rest is a mystery.

Doing something every day is NOT a piece of cake. It takes a lot of commitment, but it is so worth it in the long run. At least that has been my experience.

I'm finishing up another quarter of teaching at the college. The students have taken their tests, which means I will be grading ALL of those tests. Not my favorite part of the quarter, but it does signify that things are coming to a close and a new chapter will begin and I love NEW chapters.

Speaking of chapters, I will be writing several of them in a few weeks. I'm heading off on a solo writing retreat to work on my second book mid-June. I'm so looking forward to that time.

But now I'm GOING to be STILL. ^_^

Do you sometimes wonder how you will get through the day or are you ever surprised by the fact you are STILL GOING?

365 Inspirations—64: Just Show Up

Yoga in Times Square, June 2012

"Eighty percent of success is showing up."—Woody Allen

Sometimes inspiration comes from simply showing up. I can't count the times when I said, "Maybe I'll skip yoga today," but showed up and was so happy I did. There's something to be said for showing up.

So here I am showing up on my blog on a Tuesday evening at 5pm. I have a split shift today and need to make some dinner and take a shower before going back to school.

It's the end of the quarter and tonight I need to proctor an exam for my students. Fortunately, I've already made the copies of the test, so all I need to do is show up! It's one of those days.

The weather outside is gray again and truthfully all I want to do is crawl into bed and hide out until the sun comes out again, but I have things to do and people to meet. Besides, I know I always feel much better when I participate in life, even when I don't always feel up to doing anything.

Perhaps I have 'the end of the quarter blues'. It's really hard to be motivated today. There are so many new things I want to do and so many new directions I want to explore, but right now I've got responsibilities that I need to show up for.

I tend to be a dreamer. I love planning vacations and scheming new plans. Sometimes I get lost in all my ideas and forget that I have a life that I need to attend to.

So today I'm going to show up for the things I need to show up for. Sometimes that is the hardest part, but it always ends up being much better than I imagined it to be.

Off I go to shower, eat and head back to work.

Do you find that if you simply show up to events in your life, that things turn out much better than you imagined?