Lessons for 2017

Following up from 2016's kick in the dick:

Only the Pos

Rhys Darby in Short Poppies as Terry Pole

I'm not planning to try to win any sexy leg competitions in 2017, although my pasty white northern pins would take the top spot for sure. The butt load of bad news that the end of 2016 dumped all over my life has been making it hard to keep my head from falling. I'm taking a lesson from Terry Pole:

I have a habit of self-reflecting and only seeing the faults when I do. It isn't that there aren't things that I feel positive about accomplishing, but there are other things I get so hung up on the negative aspects of that it stagnates all my efforts to make something else.

There are a lot of things I can't control in my life. Many of those things are what has kept my outlook bleak and my efforts stagnated. I can always spend my time wallowing in the things I can't change. That's too easy and won't lead to anything positive in the long term.

Fixing What I can When I can

Baby steps to 2018

The other night I was sitting at my desk not really sure how to spend what remained of my vacation and I noticed my cup from my morning coffee was still on my desk. I'd not planned on leaving it on my desk all day, but I waved away the minute long task with the idea I'd be able to take care of it later. There I was at the end of my day contemplating going to sleep and the minute long task of taking my coffee cup to the kitchen had been put off nearly the entire day for no real reason other than I told myself I'd find time for it later.

I realize I put off the smaller things, because I don't see the goal of accomplishing the small things as being worth the effort when I'm trying to figure out a way to get the bigger stuff done. That leads me back to self-reflecting on what I haven't gotten done; which only discourages me from putting effort into the next thing.

Small fixes/victories/accomplishments can add up if you let them. I know I can't change some of the immense things that cropped up in my life, so I can expect further stress from them. Small victories are still victories. I need to remind myself of that so that when I do manage to accomplish something I can take a proper measure of pride from the small victory and use that to fuel my efforts further.

In Closing

I'm not sure what I'll get out of this year. I had so much hope at the start of last year. I haven't lost hope. It's just been tempered heavily with reality. This year anything short of total thermonuclear war will be a pleasant surprise, so 2017