I'm writing tonight to admit what those of you who read this blog already know: I didn't keep my Slice of Life commitment.
It's hard to type that sentence. No, the physical act of pressing the keys on my keyboard isn't difficult. It's feeling like I didn't keep my word that's hard. It's feeling like I've let others down that frustrates me. It's feeling disappointed in myself that's hard to get past.
Yes, I feel bad about not keeping my commitment, but at the same time, I may have learned just as much (if not more) from this experience. No, I'm not advocating quitting. Please don't get me wrong. What I am simply saying is that "life" happened this week and I realized that I wasn't as committed to a Slice of Life as I should have been if I really wanted to accomplish my goal.
And so, in spite of my lack of commitment and failure to meet my goal of slicing for 31 days, let me offer what I did learn through this experience.
1. Things that are not a priority don't and won't get done. A slice of life truly wasn't a priority for me this year. I know that sounds bad, but it's honest. I committed to slicing this year knowing it was going to be even more difficult than in the past. That knowledge along with failing to make it a priority meant slicing fell to the bottom of my "to-do" list each day. As a result, when real life happened, which it did, then I simply forgot about slicing or didn't have the energy or motivation for it. It wasn't a priority and, as a result, didn't get done.
2. Things that are a priority do and will get done. I honestly entered this year's challenge half-heartedly. That's probably part of why I didn't make slicing a priority. Truth be told, that should have made slicing more of a priority for me if I wanted to reach my goal. When I prioritize and make something important on my "to-do" list, it gets done.
3. I need to plan ahead if I intend to slice next year. I need to have a game plan going into next March if I decide to take this challenge again. It's hard to come up with writing ideas for 31 days, especially after a couple years of slicing. However, I know that if I think ahead, I can be better prepared with writing ideas that will help me when I'm stuck and don't know what to write about. I always tell my students that you have to have a plan if you want to meet a goal. This year, I failed to heed my own advice.
4. This experience has only been a failure if I didn't learn something from it. I refuse to say I failed. No, I did not meet my goal, but I did learn a lot from these past few weeks of slicing. I will take what I learned through this experience (and about myself), and will use it to do better in the future.
5. I need to reach out to others for help more often. I often tell students that anything I have ever done that was worth doing was hard. A Slice of Life would fall into the "hard" category. In looking back on all the difficult things I have ever done, I can find one thing they all had in common: I relied on others to help me get through the tough times. Looking back, I didn't reach out to my friends and colleagues like I should have this month. I didn't seek them out for ideas and I didn't read their blogs as much to get inspiration. Asking for help would have been key in helping me meet my goal.
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