Ugghhhh! Do I have to write something that people will like? It will never be as good as my three most popular posts. It won't get me as many comments, followers, views, likes or whatever other metric I check daily, therefore, I don't want to write.
I just don't want to do it. If I were a kid I would be throwing an epic tantrum. I don't want to do it! I don't want to do it! I don't want to do it!
I started five different posts this morning and they are either half finished or I deleted them, because I really don't want to write anything. I feel uninspired and tired. I want to drink coffee and watch Friends all day. I literally would pick doing almost anything else today instead of writing.
BUT ... If I want to be a blogger, writer, speaker, author ... I have to write.
If you want to be a photographer you have to go out and take pictures.
If you want to be a carpenter you have to measure, cut, nail and do carpenter things.
If you want to be a teacher you have to teach.
If you want to be a pilot you have to fly.
If you want to be a "fill in the blank", you need to "fill in the blank."
Get the picture? If you want to be the best, or among some of the best, at what you do you have to show up even when you don't feel like it. Even though I am not enjoying writing this blog post, I am here. I am at the plate. I am on the field. I am giving it my best today.
So often we base everything we do on how we feel. But lots of times our feelings are stupid and we need to put them in their place. Sometimes I feel like eating a carton of ice cream even though I am lactose intolerant. Just because I feel like doing something doesn't mean I should, and just because I don't feel like doing something doesn't mean I shouldn't. For those of you who are in the same boat as me today and want to throw the kind of temper tantrums where you smash your Cheerios on the floor, throw you head back and shout "NO!!!", I am here to encourage you! You can do things you don't feel like doing! Surprisingly, I am already starting to feel a lot better that I stuck it out at my computer and just kept writing!
Push through the feelings telling you not to do it and do it! Make it happen! Give it your best effort. I know this post might only be a broken bat single, ground out or strike out, but at least I stepped up to the plate.
I'll share with you one of my favorite quotes about just showing up from our 26th President Theodore Roosevelt.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt // April 23, 1910
Here is an image to use as your iPhone wallpaper or post to Instagram to encourage you to show up!
