reverb10 day 17: lesson learned

Today's reverb10 prompt comes from author Tara Weaver:

What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?

Let’s see – what did I learn about myself this year? Well, something I KNOW about myself – I don’t really think I learned it this year, but I’ve certainly executed it this year – is that when I decide to commit to something, I’m all in. Balls to the wall. Two examples: exercise and blogging.
As for exercise, well, I am EXCELLENT at coming up with excuses for not exercising. Too tired, too busy, too hot, too cold, to blaaaaahhhhh….the truth is, I hate exercise (which, in my world, equals a small amount of light weight lifting and power walking, as you well know by this point). And I can go MONTHS at a time without doing any at all. But when I set my mind to it, well, pretty much nothing can stop me.

So, when I decided in October that I was going to go walking four times a week, I full-out committed. Never mind that it’s dark in the morning. Never mind that it’s ass-cold (today it was 12 degrees). Never mind that it’s raining or snowing. Never mind that when I do this during the work week, it inevitably makes me late for the rest of my day. Never mind that every weekend morning, I don’t sit in and relax; instead, I hit the road. Never mind that I really, truly don’t enjoy it. It has to be done. HAS TO BE. I always feel better when I have done it. And, once again, I’m totally committed. And I plan to be for quite a while.

As for blogging, well, I decided to blog every day in November for NaBloPoMo because I really didn’t like how little I had blogged up until that point this year. Many of my blog posts this year started off with “Oh, hi everyone, sorry it’s been so long, I’m the worst blogger ever…” The great thing about NaBloPoMo is it got me back into the groove of just blogging about the ridiculous things that happen during my day, or posting pictures, or talking about really important things, like why the gingerbread latte at Starbucks tastes like swampy ass or why certain nursery rhymes creep me the hell out. I retrained my brain to recognize things in my life as good blog fodder – even if they are totally ridiculous.

And then when I heard about reverb10, well, I was very intrigued. Yes, I was exhausted from blogging every day in November, but I was really into the idea of manifesting a great 2011 – and taking a look back at a year I thought was kind of crappy. Of course, what I’ve learned so far is that 2010, in fact, had many bright spots. And I’m so thankful to this project for making me realize that. Not to mention, of course, the great number of new blogs and Twitter peeps I now love!

Of course, once reverb10 is over, I really need to take a break from my computer screen – in fact, over the next couple of weeks, with the holidays looming and a MUCH-needed week off of work, I will probably be a bit less present online. I really am craving a small break, to spend in-real-life quality time with my peeps. But of course I will still be posting - and, God knows, weaning myself off Twitter ain’t gonna happen anytime soon! And when reverb10 is done, I do hope to keep blogging on a far more regular basis than I was earlier this year.

So I guess while “commitment” wasn’t a lesson I learned about myself THIS year in particular, I certainly applied it this year.