NaBloPoMo, Yoga, and the Iron Cowboy (What They Have in Common!)
You guys- it’s over. I just completed NaBloPoMo, publishing thirty blog in thirty days for the month of November. I also completed my own personal yoga challenge, which was to do a yoga class every day as well. When I set out to participate in NaBloPoMo, I literally had no idea what I was getting myself into. I only heard about the challenge from San about a week beforehand and thought, “Sure, why not?” I did not know what I was going to say for thirty days in a row. On October 31st I had a list of about ten ideas. Not ten posts written, just ten loose ideas. When the month started, I realized that the other NaBloPoMo participants seemed more like actual writers. Well, some of them are actually writers. I definitely had a touch of imposter syndrome, but I forged ahead. And I’m so glad I did. Getting a blog post written every day was hard at times, and it took up a lot of time. Writing the posts, commenting on the other blogs, and answering comments people (generously) left on my own blog kept me busy. My life was full, but in a good way. I met a whole new amazing group of bloggers that I love. I felt a camaraderie with my fellow NaBloPoMo-ers, most of whom were complete strangers to me prior to November. One interesting thing I hadn’t anticipated was that I felt completely immersed in every single day- I realized I usually kind of “bunch” my time into week segments- just get to the weekend, or everything revolves around the Sunday long run. Publishing a blog post every day made each day seem significant on its own, and it felt like time slowed down, in a good way. November is my favorite month and it usually rushes by much too fast. Yesterday I listened to Rich Roll podcast episode with the “Iron Cowboy,” aka James Lawrence. James’ most recent accomplishment was completing 100 Iron distance triathlons in 100 days. That’s a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run- every single day, for 100 days. That was his goal, and then on day 101 he got up and did it one last time, just to show that when you think you’ve given everything you have, there’s still a little bit more. Here’s my favorite quote from that podcast: “Nobody’s the expert at the beginning of their journey. You have to meet yourself where you’re at today.” I’m not comparing writing 30 blog posts in 30 days to completing 100 Iron distance triathlons in 100 days (no, I would say there’s a slight difference.) But the idea is the same. You can’t wait until you’re an expert (we would all be waiting a long, long time.) We have to start where we’re at. Not that I’ve become an expert these last 30 days, but I feel I’ve come a long way. As for the yoga… to be honest, that was a much easier challenge than the blog. I did a class every day on the Peloton app. How hard is it really to take a class in your own home? And they were all different lengths- I tried to do longer ones whenever possible, but there were definitely some fifteen minute classes sprinkled in there. This was a stress-free challenge because I never expected myself to do it perfectly. I know for sure that I can’t do all the poses- at least not as well as the instructors. My favorite instructor- Denis Morton- gives a little pep talk at the beginning of each class where he stresses that yoga is all about trying your best, and he gives modifications for poses as he goes along. I knew all I had to do every day was my best, and that took away any stress and made it fun. That got me to thinking- why can’t I apply that to every aspect of my life? What more can you really do other than show up every day and do your absolute best? Start where you are- show up every day- do your best. Thank you to everyone who read my posts and left comments. And to all my fellow NaBloPoMo-ers- Congratulations! We did it! We will meet again in November 2022. In the meantime, let’s keep in touch. I’m so glad I discovered your blogs, and I’ll continue to follow along. Namaste, everyone.