I still wrote.
I didn't give up when I missed a day. I just picked up where I left off and wrote.
Like a couple of years ago when I started working out but didn't see the results on the scale. I felt better physically and mentally, but wasn't looking pounds. So I gave up. I stopped working out. Even though I loved Zumba, I quit going to class.
Also a couple of years ago I started writing a book with my husband and beat friend. We wrote and wrote and wrote. Then life got busy and crazy and just in the way. So the writing slacked off. Then eventually stopped. Though I loved colloborating and creating something with my favorite people, I quit.
But this time was different. I could have given up after I missed a day, but I didn't. I kept going.
I gave myself grace.
This afternoon I was thinking about how sometimes we're our harshest critic. It is easier for most people to forgive others but so hard for us to forgive ourselves. We can give grace but think we don't deserve it.
Yet we need to accept grace when it's offered. And we need to extend it to ourselves sometimes.
So as the 31 days of simply writing series comes to a close, I challenge you to give yourself grace. This challenge may be ending, but the real challenge is just beginning: taking what we've learned these past 31 days and applying it to our lives. For me, that means to keep writing. To not give up when I get off track. To give myself grace even though it is super hard sometimes.
What have you learned these past 31 days?
