Happy one-year blog anniversary to Commonplace & Curious! I first blogged on June 18, 2014. But today is a good day to officially recognize my blog anniversary, because it was on June 23rd of last year that I started my thirty-day blog challenge. The blog challenge really helped me gain some momentum. It's true that I didn't blog on any specific schedule after that. Still, this is my 56th post. That means an average of at least one post per week. I'll take it. In fact, my official summer goal is to blog once per week. With a new part-time job and lots of necessary running around with the tween & teenagers plus (hopefully) some doses of summer fun, I think once a week is a realistic goal. Plus, I have another creative project that I hope to work on this summer; more to come on that later.
What have I learned from blogging (if sporadically) for one year? I could think of lots of things... Since it's already getting late, I'll limit myself to what comes to mind quickly:
1) Momentum is key, as it is with so many habits. The more frequently I blog, the more motivated I am to keep up with it. It's very hard to get back to blogging after neglecting it for weeks or a month at a time.
2) My motivation to blog has to be simple - write it and share it. (Why write at all is a topic I covered in this blog post.) It's best not to have any expectations about whether any one reads it or not. However, I am so grateful to those friends, family and acquaintances who have taken the time to read any of my blog posts. At times, I have been disappointed by what seems like a lack of interest or support from some people in my life. And by support I mean - maybe read just one post and mention it or comment? With that in mind, I asked a writer-friend about this feeling. I loved her advice - show people the support that you'd like them to show you, and then let it go. Brilliant - the golden rule! So I try to be intentional about doing that - support friends when they tell me about or post about their lives, whether it be work, hobbies, art, music, business, family, travels or whatever means a lot to them.
3) I'm still learning to let go of being a perfectionist when it comes to writing, and blogging has certainly helped me make progress in that regard. And I'm going to let go right now, by wrapping up this post here.
Happy summer!
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Ha! I can't believe I didn't see this post until just now. Must have been because my mom was visiting. I have been eager to read your blog and to communicate with via the blog as I did last summer. It was an enriching experience for me because 1) I thought about things I hadn't thought about before 2) I "put myself out there" by responding to you via the blog instead of a private email and most importantly 3) the relationship I have with you grew and for those summer months I felt your presence more strongly in my life and I liked that! :-)
ReplyDeleteI have something more to say about motivation, momentum, and habits. I'll have to post again - soon. I don't have sufficient time in this moment to organize my thoughts and write logically.
I've been thinking about you and hoping you all had a nice visit with your mom! I love your points, especially number three because the feeling is mutual in that I appreciate how we connect through this dialogue. Thanks for commenting, Lori!
DeleteCongratulations on the year anniversary!!!! That should have been my first comment as it WAS my first thought. :-)
DeleteAnd, happy 4th - Happy SchmidtyPalooza! Give everyone big hugs and hellos from me.
We had such a great visit with my mom. The week went really fast. We had nice weather and did a few fun, touristy things and lots of visiting and game playing with just enough down time.
Now... back to the topic at hand.
I've been thinking about habits since reading that Tidying book by Kondo and Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. A point that I took from both of those books is that habits are those things that are habituated and therefore don't take energy or thought to complete.
I think one of the examples in Rubin's book was brushing teeth. My kids have not habituated this. On the other hand I don't have to tell myself to brush my teeth or think about when I'm going to make time for it. I just do it. Without thinking. Without making a decision.
Being a person who is very poor at making decisions (meaning I have a hard time deciding NOT meaning I make bad decisions) I find it liberating to think that I can make a decision once, decide it is a good one for me, and then just stick to it. Like brushing my teeth.
Without knowing it I did just this when I got married. I love to be shoeless. I would kick my shoes off wherever and just leave them wherever until I needed them again. When I realized how aggravating this was for Kirk I made a habit of putting away my shoes. Pretty much as a rule my shoes get tucked away fairly quickly after coming off my feet. There is no impulse to do it later or to make excuse for not doing it. I just do it. Without thinking. Playing lumosity has also found its place in my morning routine right after checking email. Yoga. A ritual phone call with a friend in Denver - If it's 8am on Tuesday I know what I am doing.:)
Of course everything isn't as simple as that. I love the idea of cooking a healthy meal every night. And I have some pretty good habits around shopping. But, not around cooking. I don't enjoy it. I keep trying to find a way to make it a happy part of my day; make it something I would do at a certain every day without thinking about it. I suppose one day I may just land on it. Persistence. Patience. There is a topic for another day. :-)
Interesting points, Lori. I find it easy to develop habits around things like brushing my teeth, making the bed, doing dishes and laundry, etc., but harder to develop habits around things like writing goals, in-depth decluttering, organizing photos, etc. I think because the latter tasks can be more difficult psychologically in some ways, so take more energy. It's not just that I like some of the tasks more than others, although that sometimes comes into play as well.
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