I had an off day today…and I took it off from *everything*. I didn’t do jack shit today…I napped, I sat around…well, I guess that’s not entirely true, I did do a smidge of Flix work, but nothing too cray. I really just hung out with the pups and tried to rest. Not tried…I *did* rest. And I was glorious and very much needed. Oh, so very needed.
I even took the day off from writing. I know! But, that flies in the face of everything you just wrote about last night on the monumental 1000th blog post about EVERY SINGLE DAY. That’s all true…except it’s not true at all. And today is the *perfect* example of what that’s not true:
There are no points out there for a consecutive-day streak. Seriously. It doesn’t matter. Nobody really cares, and you and I shouldn’t either. Why? Because it’s not actually the point.
I’ll explain that: the point of this blog has never been the number at the beginning of each post. I put it there as a reminder to myself of where I am, where I’ve come from and where I’m going…but the point has always been simply to find consistency, to build a habit, and to create a routine that made me feel happy…and today, I needed a day off to rest. Recharge. Just do nothing for a bit. I might even do it again tomorrow. We shall see. But there are no big extra points for someone with a perfect attendance record once you graduate from high school, guys. It’s not a real part of life. Rather, it’s about setting yourself up a system for success. THAT is what’s got me to 1,000 days of writing a blog…not the number at the beginning. If I were focusing on that, I’d never, ever have got this far. I’d have quit long ago.
No…it’s about setting up a system that you enjoy, guys. Seriously. Create yourself a framework that you LOVE, that you look FORWARD to, to get whatever it is done that you want to get done. And when you fail, and you miss a day, don’t dwell on it. Let it go. Something like a consecutive streak is entirely artificial, something that we put entirely upon ourselves. Holding on to that won’t help you pick yourself up and just jump right back in and keep on going.
Writing every day has definitely shown me how often I fail. It’s often. It’s predictable. But I’ve also learned how holding onto those failures really does nothing for me. And somehow writing about them every day and releasing them from my own brain and putting them down on “pen and paper” for anyone to read has the effect of robbing those failures of their power over me. To a certain degree…but it is without question a large degree. And once I’ve let them go, I feel ready to move forward again…and THAT IS THE POINT. Just keep moving. Just keep writing.
So, I was just kind to myself today. I did whatever my gut told me to do. I watched a movie, Everest which I honestly had added to the DVR on a whim…I’d had no interest in watching it when it came out…and it was predictably on the nose to begin with…but man, once the plot really got moving and we were actually climbing Everest, and we reached the fateful day of May 10, 1996…holy shit, that movie really sucked me in. The whole second half was incredibly intense for me. Hook line and sinker, and I cried when the tragedies started coming in that we all knew were going to be there. And I’ll say this…I wouldn’t say that this movie was particularly well-made or even spectacular…but what it *did* do to me was impact me with the awe and the danger of Everest itself. And that was why the tragic circumstances towards the end really hit me, because I finally understood why people go and climb that mountain. I get it now. And I get how those people died. I understand why it’s so dangerous, something I didn’t actually comprehend before this movie.
For example: did you know that if you’re up towards the top of Everest, you know, a day or two’s climb from the tippy top…there is no rescue if something goes wrong. It’s so high up there, and the air is actually so thin, that a helicopter literally cannot fly up there. Its blades don’t have enough to to lift it up there. So, those climbers are on their own. The only help is down below, and if you can’t get down below, you die. So, even to this day with all our technology and shit…that’s why it’s STILL so fucking dangerous to climb that mountain, because no one can help you up there. I mean…that’s insane, right? I blew my mind, anyway. The movie impacted me WAY more than I thought it was going to, even from the whole first hour.
Anywho…It’s time for the sleeps. The pups are curled up, Liz is out in the living room memorizing for a pair of auditions, and I’m going to bed early. I’m totally wiped. I’ll see you guys tomorrow…and just keep writing…whatever “writing” might be for you.