I Do Not Want to Write

I did not want to write today.

I did not want to write tonight.

I am just having one of "those" days.

Around 11 am, my blood sugar dropped. For those of you who don't know, I have type 1 diabetes. So, a low blood sugar is kind of a big deal.

It's a big deal, but nothing I'm not used to. So, I treated it, and went on about my day. 

It dropped again.

And again.

My blood sugar was low/borderline low for a good 5 hours.

You know how you feel when you haven't eaten in hours? Shaky, cranky, tired, annoyed...? Yeah. That's how I felt. For 5 hours. (Not to mention, the perpetual frustration with my eye sends irritability into overdrive.)

Needless to say when I made it home from work, I took a nap.

Instead of getting clothes together for an upcoming trip, instead of blogging, instead of taking a shower, instead of doing anything productive...

I took a nap... for 3 hours.

So I woke up at 8 pm. And do you know why I woke up?

Because my blood sugar was low.

I did not want to eat dinner, but I had to.

I did not want to take a shower, but I had to. (You're welcome, co-workers.)

I did not want to write, but I committed to.

And you know what? I feel better.

We all have those days right? We are just done. Over it. We want to throw in the towel. we want to call it quits before the sun even goes down. We just want to try again tomorrow. 

But how does that help you today? Where does that get you?

Answers: It doesn't, and nowhere.

Do not let your day own you. You should own your day! You can't control situations around you, but you can control how you react. You can either give in and give up, or you can throw some punches, and take control. 

When you take control, even if things don't go as well as you planned, you still win.

Just by following through, you still win.

Just by putting forth a little extra effort, you still win.

Winning isn't about the end result (no matter what your loud-mouth, oompa loompa shaped track coach told you in high school.) Winning is about doing.

So go.

Do.

Win. 

 

Appreciating the Small Victories

I'm a big picture kind of girl.

As Jon Acuff explains in his book, Start, there are "how" people and there are "wow" people. "Wow" people think of big, grand ideas, and "how" people are the ones who can build the steps to get there.

I'm a wow-er.

I can dream up some mega-plans! (ok, re-read the word "mega-plans" in a deep, echoing voice, and maybe picture the hulk ripping his shirt off or something.)

But when it comes to figuring out the steps to get there, I get frustrated. (Reason number 1923834745785 why I love Brett. He is a "how" person and can logistics his way out of a paper bag!.....i know. That is super grammatically incorrect.)

Sometimes on my journeys to greatness, I get frustrated that ALL OF THE AMAZING THINGS aren't happening RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND.

That is a problem.

When we focus too much on the end goal, we forget to appreciate our small victories. 

We also forget that those small victories help us to get to that sweat-dripping, fear-crushing, tear-running, photo finish.

Today, my blood glucose levels were good. After a terrible endocrinologist appointment last month, you'd think I would really enjoy that! But I was so focused on work, and the Start Experiment, and my several meetings I have coming up, that it took me until 3:30 pm to stop and say "Yes!! YES YES YES!"

That is a total of 8 and a half hours of not appreciating a great thing.

The sad thing is, I've gone longer, much longer, without appreciating great things, because at the time, I thought of them as insignificant. Because those victories weren't the fireworks I had been so focused on.

Stop and think about all of the terrific things that happened today. No matter how itty-bitty. Appreciating the small wins in life makes the ginormous triumphs even sweeter!

What have you overlooked today?