Small Victories: Part 4
We all desire to have meaningful days.
We all want to feel like what we accomplished in a day was worthwhile and made an impact. Our intentions, attitude, focus, concentration, and determination all play a role.
Sure, some of us have convinced ourselves that this isn’t true. Some will say they don’t mind the days blending together and rolling by.
Let’s be honest, it doesn’t feel good when time slips away. There’s a reason people look back and feel regret.
You can be mad at yourself for having poorly used time in the past, but the most expedient way forward is to pivot from now.
What can you accomplish today?
What will be your small victories today?
Once you get a taste for small victories, you’ll want more small victories in your days, and then you’ll want to feel larger victories.
This is all positive.
The negative is getting caught up in the hedonic treadmill and lifestyle creep. That’s all nonsense that distracts from the real point of doing what you do— which is because you have determined that your choices for how you spend your days matter to you.
If the way you’ve been spending your time is beginning to feel problematic or otherwise negative, then it’s time to pivot again.
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I love this, Mark. I am devoted to my daily planner. I write down what I intend to do, then check off what I have actually done. It feels good to work through the list.
Thanks for this, Mark. I've been thinking about small victories lately. This week I was able for the first time since my November hospitalization to pick up my food delivery box and bring it into the house. I found a publicist with an excellent track record who will place my second ekphrastic collection and sub poems from an ekphrastic chapbook--all at a most reasonable price. I sent for my grandmother's naturalization papers (because I can't find the copies I picked up personally in the 1990s from the courthouse). Yesterday I wrote about the three versions of my grandparents' wedding portrait. Inch by inch, paragraph by paragraph, stanza by stanza, I move forward as I continue to recover from the confluence of several chronic illnesses.