Daily Victories: Give Yourself Credit



Atlanta Botanical Gardens



 If cleanliness is next to godliness, I'm no saint.

This winter, I've been working on tossing out those piles of boxes and doo-dads you accumulate over time.  You know...the "it might be useful" someday stuff.  And I must be imaginative, because most of this stuff ain't ever gonna be of use to anybody.

This last week I made the big step of calling a junk guy to haul off the big stuff...bikes, mattresses--the ones you wouldn't want the cat to sleep on, TV's, etc. etc.  After he departed I walked around the house and realized that although there's still a goodly pile of stuff nobody will ever want or use, I can actually make use of three rooms in my house I couldn't three months ago.

This wasn't an overnight success.  It happened a little bit every day...or every other day, depending on the rest of life.  It happened because I kept repeating to myself, "Hey! You got those bottles returned!" or, "See? You can open the china cupboard, now."  Not that I'm serving a fancy dinner soon, but still.

I poked my head into the sun porch and realized that the piano was accessible...I can call the tuners! Ah! Not yet.

You see, the really big goal is to finish the living room.  So, piano tunings and china cupboards aside, there's still a lot of trash and donations to be cleared.  But I'm getting there.  Honestly getting there.  And it's happening because you just gotta keep saying, "I completed a little tiny something today that wasn't done yesterday."

When you look back after a week or two, it's pleasing to see, or not see in my case, just how much can be accomplished with persistence, and giving yourself a pat on the back for achieving one small extra goal a day.

Maybe I'm the little train that could...maybe that's a childhood story we should all revisit when we're feeling like life is impossible.

'Til next time, keep smiling!