Is It Really ‘Dropping the Ball’?
This week, I dropped the ball.
I missed writing and publishing my Substack on Wednesday. This is the schedule I created a year ago as part of a commitment to publish my writing. For the most part, I have met my goal, and I am proud. However, missing a week has happened twice in the last six, and this time I noticed I was giving myself shit for not getting it done.
Then I returned from the place of my old programming and took an objective view. I have done an excellent job of showing up for myself in this commitment. I know what I am devoted to, I know what is active in my life right now, and I know that much of the old programming is rooted in worrying about what other people think, rather than trusting myself.
I also know that had the old programming been my current operating system, I never would have begun publishing in the first place. I would have missed one and thought I’d failed. I would have missed a Wednesday at 7:30 am and held so rigidly to that day that you would never have seen this post.
The fact is that I’ve published 46 of the last 52 weeks. That means I have met my goal 88% of the time.
Many of us are programmed to never start because we already know that being human means meeting a 100% target is unlikely. Instead, we quit before we begin or put it off so long we trick ourselves into believing we can’t do it. Had I truly let the mind chatter dictate my progress, I would not be feeling a huge sense of accomplishment and pride now. I am thrilled at what it actually meant to ‘drop the ball’ this week.
It meant a post that came two and a half days late, but was still published this week.
It meant becoming consciously aware (again) of ancient programming, and also aware that I no longer live by it.
It meant looking at my actual stats and realizing I succeeded 88% of the time in the last year.
It meant that I claimed space in the ‘being human’ realm and offered myself grace.
It meant that I brought light to an experience many people have, and created an invitation for myself and others to reclaim what ‘dropping the ball’ means.
Have you ‘dropped the ball’ recently?
What doors did it open?
What insights might it offer?
How might you reframe it to feel like an accomplishment?
Photo by Juliana Romão on Unsplash