30 day blog challenge…update

I don’t like to use the word fail. It implies something negative and shame worthy. But, sometimes you fail. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Sometimes it’s over, and the fat lady hasn’t sung.

On January 16th, I set myself a blog challenge. I challenged myself to write a blog post everyday for the next 30 days. I only made it 19 days in and I stopped. I would love to give a detailed and dramatic explanation of why I didn’t see it through, but the truth is rather more simple. I became lazy. I got complacent. I forgot.

I could give a list of reasons that contributed to my not reaching the full 30 days. I guess I could say I’m a busy mum; I was preparing for several interviews and feeling panicked at the thought of starting work again after being on maternity leave for over a year. Or that I was generally stressed with the day to day battles of teething, weaning and other baby-related dramas. But I know really these are all excuses.

I won’t be true to myself if I start using these everyday things as the reason for not achieving all I want to.

I genuinely believe that when you really want something, it takes hard work, grit, and an infinite amount of determination and self belief. The fact that I didn’t succeed in this challenge has got nothing to do with the things that most of us deal with on an everyday basis. I like to think that the things we want to achieve outside of work and responsibilities, we have to carve time for, even when it feels like the odds are stacked against us.

I’m sure there are plenty of bloggers that have sat down to write a blog post and lo and behold, the baby starts crying and your channelled away from doing the very thing you really want to get on with. The easy option is to give up and think,’it’s just not meant to be.’ The harder option would be to deal with whatever crisis you need to, and somehow reserve the energy to focus and complete the blog post regardless (I really need to take my own advice, here).

So I may not have completed the 30 day challenge I had in mind. But I’ve not given up. It may the end of one challenge but that doesn’t mean I can’t start another. This time, I’ll  blog when I want to but also because I want to. And that means no random blog posts about camel toe. Happy blogging!