Here’s to New Beginnings and to No More Deadbeats

Deadbeat blogger.  That’s me.  I heard that phrase while listening to an interview on Platform University.   I haven’t blogged in months. I have no lack of excuses. In fact excuses are all I have.  Yet I know that the deadbeat blogger in me is a reflection (or reaction more accurately) to a phase of life I find myself in (wait, I think that’s another excuse).  I am in transition.  I have four kids out of the house, one about to graduate, and four more at home.  I am in the middle of it all.

As a homeschool mom, I have been at it for twenty years.  I’m still committed but I’m tired.  I need a second wind.  As a fitness enthusiast, I find myself strangely in transition as well.  In the past I have run marathons, I have maintained a daily workout regimen, I have tried and enjoyed various types of exercise (running, cycling, P90x, barre, rowing). Now I find myself in a more solitary place when it comes to fitness.  I’m still doing lots of different things, but due to schedules and friend’s injuries or my own, I often workout alone.  I don’t mind.  It’s not a bad thing. But I have to rely on my own motivation… which let’s just say is not as healthy as it used to be.  One day of no exercise can easily lead to another and before I know it I’m hardly working out at all.  Okay, it’s really not that bad. But there is no doubt I need a good kick in the pants.

Which brings me back to that second wind…. How do I catch it?  It’s obviously not gonna come sweeping by and just pick me up like a moonbeam in a fairy tale. The fact is it is time to get tough.  I have written in the past about those actions in life that eventually become habits.  Good or bad.  As I consider my deadbeat blogger status I have to face the facts. It’s time to take my own advice.  There is no way around it but through it. I have to just do it.  As corny as that sounds, it’s the only way.  Waiting around for a swift wind to carry me to a place where motivation and action lie is obviously not a plan.  Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started”.  I’ve got to start again.

Actually the term deadbeat blogger is a little harsh.  Synonyms for the word deadbeat are loser, good-for-nothing, slacker, underachiever. I don’t look at myself in the mirror and see those qualities.  So what do I see?   I see someone who still has the same desires and dreams I had years ago.  I’m just further into the journey.  I have more bruises to show for it.  I’ve gotten off track. I need to reconnect with those dreams and desires.  Writing is like working out.  You have to start somewhere. I need to start again.  So here goes. Here’s to new beginnings and to my first blog back on that continued journey.

Someone pour me some coffee.