Life can be hard sometimes, so I’m trying to celebrate the small victories. For several days now, I’ve been trying to figure out how to add a “Follow” widget for this blog. Success. You should see one below. I feel so proud of myself when I overcome a technological challenge like that. Being my own IT specialist is a drag so I usually have several, dare I say younger (and male!) friends on speed dial for this type of work. But I researched it myself on a user forum and then did some trial and error until I triumphed. It may seem like a small thing to you, but I’m really happy about it.
Why is it so hard to just celebrate the little things? I hate to acknowledge that something that maybe isn’t that hard for you is really, really hard for me. And then it is even harder to get the accolades I need for my accomplishments. This happens to me often around technology. I walk the tightrope between embarrassment that I don’t know how to manage my technology and disdain/frustration that I even have to be bothered with it. My fourteen year old niece had to show me how to add emoticons to my iPhone (then I taught scores of others!); my friend’s husband had to help me locate and remove duplicate files that were clogging up my hard drive; and I once flew my brother into town to help purchase and install my TV/stereo setup (back in the day).
So figuring this widget thing out on my own is big. BIG. I haven’t figured out how to make it appear automatically on a new post. That challenge remains. But I am able to get the button to show up on this post. For today, that’s enough.
This photo represents another small victory. I took it last year during a photography workshop at Yosemite, at the end of a long rainy day when I probably would have packed up and called it quits. Instead, we stood in the rain for over an hour waiting for the sun to break through the clouds and hit El Capitan. Finally, it did. My Mom (unbiased judge) thinks this photo is better than the one that came with the El Capitan iOS. And I agree.
My hope for my readers today is that you give yourself a pat on the back –for getting to work on time, for being a good Mom or husband or friend, for making dinner, for exercising or fixing something that was broken around the house. Before you continue on the mad rush of what else needs to be done and all the things you aren’t doing well, take a breath. Give yourself some credit for doing just that one thing. Celebrate the small victories.
Boonedoggler 