Day 34 and 35 too

Is about time travel. Because this is actually Day 36. If you remember, I wrote recently about continuous vs continual.

Continual wins. I set out to write something on the blog every day for a year. I'm not going to give it up because I missed two. The same applies to any goal.



In first grade, when I was learning to write sentences, I couldn't tolerate a mistake. If I made one, I'd wad up the paper from my pad and march it up to the trash can. After the third such trip, my teacher, Mrs. Yonce, snagged the wad from the trash can and gave it back to me. She told me that such perfectionism was a waste and that I'd have to smooth out the wad of paper as best I could and finish my assignment on it. To a six-year-old perfectionist, this was devastating.

In the end, I finished the assignment and handed it in, tear stains and all.

But I learned how to erase and keep going. Occasionally I have to remind myself of this lesson. Occasionally I fail. It's hard to go on, plough forward despite mistakes, failures and flaws, but it's infinitely smarter than quitting.



It's January 25th. I wonder how all those New Year's resolutions are holding up out there. We tend to refer to them as 'broken' when we slip. Possibly we should switch to another term. Got any suggestions?