There’s a saying in the music business that your only as big as your next hit. It doesn’t matter if your last album was great; in fact, it may be a detriment. Once you have some success, you have to get bigger with each successive song, video, and album. Eventually, you can become so big that you have to branch into acting, start a clothing line, endorse a fragrance, or be in an ad campaign for a make up company to maximize your earning potential (or, if you’re Beyoncé, you can do all of the above). Through all that you do, however, you’re still only as big as where you are at this moment. The focus is on your present production.
When I think about what it would take for me to stop comparing myself and start focusing on my own journey, one of the first things that came to mind is a simple statement of fact: I’m not eighteen anymore. I’m not fifty pounds lighter. I’m not conditioned by running every day. I don’t have time and nature on my side. All of my time is not my own. And that’s OK.
I can’t live in the past or yearn after it. It’s gone. I need to start fresh. I have to forget about what I used to be and focus on what I am and how to become what I want to be.
So what thing(s) can I do to start focusing on my journey? How can I differentiate between what I’m doing because I want to and when I’m just being competitive/comparative? How do I figure out what adds to my growth instead of keeping me stagnant?
- I need to reduce opportunities for comparisons, at least initially. To that end, for the next couple weeks, I will not be reading blogs about running, writing, relationships, or personal finance, nor will I read facebook or twitter. You will still see posts from me, but I won’t be reading anything. This began at midnight. Should you want to reach me, you can contact me via email at 2blu2btru4u@gmail.com.
- While on this social networking fast, I will be partially focused on my fitness journey. At present, I don’t even know if passionate I am about running, so I am going to try new things. I will take at least three classes at the gym at least three times to see if I like something else more than running. This will begin Monday.
- I also want to focus on myself spiritually, and without hours of being sucked into what’s going on in the lives of people that could be robots for all I know, I can do that. I want to try Christian meditation (yes, we meditate. The Bible even uses the word!). I’ve already been preoccupied with a couple scriptures focusing on one concept that may become a post. I also want to spend more time on developing my prayer life.
- I will be reading more books. I already began to do this a little bit, but with my free time, I am going to finally have the opportunity to read a Jodi Picoult book. I plan to cross several titles of my “to be read” list. I am currently stuck in India in Eat Pray Love, should you be wondering.
- I will resume making my daily to do lists.
- I am setting a daily writing goal of at least five hundred non-blogging words.
- I will identify concrete, finite goals that will move me forward.
So, for those of you whose blogs I will not read and who will not email, I guess this is good bye…at least for a while. I only hope that we can still be social network friends.
The Gist: I will not read any blogs, nor be on facebook or twitter for the next two weeks. In the meantime, I will pray, meditate, write, read, and break a sweat in three non-running related ways at least three times.
How are you going to focus on your own journey in the next two weeks?
Related articles
- To Sit in Solemn Silence… (2blu2btru.wordpress.com)
- My Secret Life: Jodi Picoult, 45, author (independent.co.uk)
- Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (sherriepalmer.wordpress.com)
- Just Breathe: The Experiences of a Reluctant Meditator (my.psychologytoday.com)
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