All week I’ve been putting (more than the normal amount of) pressure on myself to write this post. You see, it’s my 300th post, and I thought, It should be something compelling and well-written and fan-frickin-tastic.
Of course it should. But shouldn’t I strive for all of my published writing to be like that? Don’t I? Being the perfectionist I am was, the answer is usually yes. So why is this post any different?
I certainly didn’t get to 300 posts by being so picky that I sat paralyzed, unable to write a thing. I mean, I’ve been there, but somehow I made it past that stage. I have made it past that stage 299 times, in fact.
If you had asked me to write 300 blog posts when I started Sunny Sanguinity, I probably would’ve shuddered at the enormity of it all. I may have even ran in the other direction. That’s a lot of thinking, writing and editing.
Many of us have made it through a month or so of resolutions or new intentions for this year, myself included. Some of them may look a lot like Write 300 blog posts. Overwhelming. Perhaps vague.
I know I’ve got a few of those in there. Learn Spanish? That’s a mountain with the summit obscured by clouds. How tall is it?
With goals like this, it’s helpful to break it down into smaller pieces. When I wrote my novel, I determined that if I worked on it for 90 minutes a day, I could finish after a few months.
But here’s the weird thing. Even when I was sending my manuscript out to publishers, meaning it was as finished as I could get it without the help of an editor, I had this compulsion to go through the whole thing again. To do the work of 177 pages again.
It will only take a minute, I assured myself. I’ve heard this line of thinking before, and no, it won’t take only a minute.
This is what two minutes looks like.
I think that’s what’s happening with my desire to write something so amazing for my 300th post. I want to summarize it somehow. As if it’s possible to distill more than six years of life, change, and writing into some tiny post.
That would take an elephant of a post. And while I’m working on eating this elephant, sometimes it’s good to just congratulate yourself on how far you’ve come, which is what I’ve decided to do with my 300th.
My dearest Rebecca,
I’m proud of the work you’ve done. Your writing has improved as has your knowledge of programming languages. Your personal development is nothing short of miraculous. If the next sixish years are anything like your last, this blog is gonna be a helluva fun time to write and read.
Your closest friend,
Rebecca
For all of the work you have in front of you — all of the elephants you’re chewing on one bite at a time — there are others you have already finished and more still you are halfway through. Just remember to enjoy the meals and compliment the chef occasionally.
P.S. Speaking of elephants, I achieved one of my 2013 goals already by getting published on another blog. Check out my first post over at Work Awesome.
P.P.S. It was a banner week for my writing being published. Read about lessons I use to curb my gossiping over at Think Simple Now.
Be OK with sad feelings. Yes, this optimist has a hard time dealing with feelings that aren’t all bright and shiny. But they’re normal and it would be really weird if I didn’t have any negative thoughts. So I’m working on 
