Baby Steps Are OK

I was reading a book by Thich Nhat Hanh the other day and one of the quotes that really stood out to me was this one:

"Each day you only need to take a few solid steps in the direction of your goal. Each morning, you rededicate yourself to your path in order to not go astray. Before going to sleep at night, take a few minutes to review the day. 'Did I live in the direction of my ideals today?' If you see that you took two or three steps in that direction, that is good enough. If you didn't, say to yourself, 'I'll do better tomorrow.' Don't compare yourself with others."

They say things always come to you exactly when you need them, and I know that this was something I really needed to read. Because I often find excuses for why I can't write. Or, instead, I don't write at all because I know I can't accomplish very much on that particular day. More often I think I just procrastinate. And if I keep doing that day after day and year after year, I'm going to wake up in the winter of my life and realize I've accomplished nothing.

My manuscript is now at 111 pages and nearly 33,000 words, and I've written several thousand of those in the last 24 hours thanks to this particular quote. I've decided that it's important to check in with myself every day, just as it says to do, and I've also decided that it's also important to allow baby steps to be ok.

There are many days where I don't write at all, and rather than allowing a day to pass without writing anything, I've tried to just write a line or two. Or an idea. Because then I feel like I'm still working toward a goal even on the days when I don't have much to give. And this is the accountability part of the quote. The part where you keep yourself on track, and you forgive yourself when you fall a bit short and don't even make that minimal effort.

Following this practice has also reminded me how much I love to write when I actually do it. Looking back now, I can't believe that I stopped writing for two years. I can't believe I even thought that perhaps I wasn't supposed to be a writer at all, and perhaps I don't even like it. I do like it. I just got off track.

So thank you, Thich Nhat Hanh, for showing me the way again.

Incidentally, if you want to read the book, it's called No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering. It's a gem of a little read.