Wow. I finally missed a day of posting, not because I was too busy, but because I broke habit, and forgot to post yesterday. Which is just sloppy of me. Complacency is sloppiness. I’m guilty of that. Discipline isn’t hard, its a matter of attentiveness to things that need attending. Like what one does in a day. Ouch.
Going to the gym, you skip a day, next thing you know, you’ve been gone a week.
Value.
I got more “tired” and more “distracted” than I valued posting an article yesterday. Mind you, I wasn’t specifically tired or distracted, but sloppy. Out of mind, off of schedule. To fail in so simple a thing, for so stupid a reason. I lost value for that commitment, by way of complacency, until it was too late. Now it is the case, that I failed to keep a commitment to myself.
So price paid, the lesson is:
- Complacency sneaks up on me, I need to be ever vigilant against it.
- Discipline is the habit of this ever vigilance. A way of living, not a thing to do.
- Value roots discipline, such that where a value wains, so does the discipline that protects it.
- Pain is felt when I’ve injured a value that I still hold.
- Obey the pain! Protect what matters!
Learn or lose. I choose to learn, but still have to do the work.
Life as a human being.
There was a time I’d be really upset with myself, as I expected myself to adhere to an idolization of an archetype. As an American, I do not adhere to an idolization of anything. Simple competence is my arbiter of action, and values are my arbiter of propriety. I keep in mind, that I’m just another animal, living through another day, and life isn’t any more complicated than that.
In comfortable circumstances, where there are no pressing dangers, it is still easy to fail. To fail competence. To fail value.
As an American I own it. I’m not embarrassed, but I am disappointed in myself.
And that is how I deal with my short comings. I stick with it, happy that I still care, still want these things enough to keep working at them.
For me.
When I share personal things, I share from my experience and understanding, not conjecture or imagination. I am most moved by people’s own personal stories, not their theories and lectures. I’ve adapted that practice for my own writings. Sharing what works and doesn’t work for me, and why I think that is.
I’d love to hear your own stories. Share them in the comments. I mean it. What’s up?
My cat is starting to sit on my hands. I think the idea is that I finish, and go to bed. His name is Big Foot.
Clarity, unity, organization, action. Let’s not fail where it counts.
Be American. Stay American!
David Weeks, Information Developer, Tampa, Florida.