Day # 39 - Stick to it and do it.

Today is my daughter's birthday so I have been busy. We had a little gathering, just family and the girls played outside until the rain got out of hand. It started around one and it's still going on. It reminds me of why we stopped having parties. This is Florida. In the summer, we get rain every afternoon. When Emily turned one, we had a party and our guests had to take off their shoes and wade in through calf-high water to get in to the house. Next year: road trip.

We stayed up late getting the house ready so I was exhausted this morning. I wanted to write but felt uninspired and didn't feel I had the focus. This seems like no big deal, I mean, who's going to care if I take on day off? Who's even going to notice?

I am. This is about me. To explain:

My aspiration was to be a writer. I didn't discover this inclination until I was in my twenties. I got married very young and went through a very painful divorce. I began writing poetry out of the blue. I guess it was therapeutic. I eventually moved on to short stories. Then I wrote short scripts. I eventually wrote five novels and six feature-length screenplays. I wrote opinion pieces, essays, letters, you name it, I wrote it.

Then I stopped. Not sure why. It's hard to break into writing as a business and I guess I didn't have the persistence. I lacked the stick-to-itiveness. I never had a problem with the writing. I woke up bright and early and cranked out my work before showering, dressing and going to work. I guess at some point I directed my ambition toward my career, not my writing. The result has been heartbreak and not much else. I always knew I wanted to get back to writing. I just needed a push. This project has been the push - another unexpected benefit.

So when I feel like taking a day off from this, I know there are more important things than the mood I'm in at any given moment. This is a commitment. I said I would go a year without news and write about it. I intend to write every day whether it's relevant to the project or not.

Too often in life, we give up. As soon as things take an unexpected turn, we throw our hands up. Sometimes, the problem isn't even unexpected. How often do you get caught in rush hour traffic? How often do you let it get to you? How often do you start the day knowing it's going to be a great day, and then allow some little, insignificant thing ruin the whole day for you? These are forms of giving up.

Have you walked out on your family? On a relationship? A friend? Do you have addictions that are ruining and controlling you life? These are all forms of giving up.

The difference between success and failure are not all that great. It could be little things holding you back. If you give up on little things, you will never succeed at big ones. Learn to be tenacious. Learn that you have not lost until you've given up.

Lessons:

- "Never never never quit." - Winston Churchill
- If you let little things derail you, big things will then come along and kill you.
- Do it. Whatever it is. Just do it, and do it, and do it some more.

Today's Declarations:

- Day by day in every way I am getting better and better.
- I will never quit. I will persevere and follow my dreams, wherever they take me.
- I will let the little things go so I can focus on the big things.

I am here. If you are reading this in the hopes of learning something, let it be this: never quit.

Make it your best day ever. God bless you.

- Adolfo

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