Finishing What I Start

Today's blog prompt from Blogher:

Do you think you're more or less likely to complete December's NaBloPoMo? Why?

At this point (Day 2)  I am feeling pretty good about the likelihood of my finishing this month's NaBloPoMo.  December is an easier month for me as the semester wraps up and my performance schedule becomes a little lighter.  I have more time to myself to do other things I enjoy, like writing.  There is also the fact that last year, after two failed attempts in October and November of 2012, December was the first time I ever completed NaBloPoMo.

There was a time in my life many years ago that when a task became overwhelming or difficult I would be likely to quit or walk away muttering that it was just "too hard" or took "too much time."  I think the turnaround for me began when I began working on my associates degree in 2004.  This was the first time that I'd taken on such a large goal and saw it through to completion.  It did help that I really, really enjoy school, but it also was the first time I that I was doing something because I really wanted to and not because it was what I thought I should be doing. 

It was also the first time that I began to recognize that the process of doing something is as important, and sometimes more worthwhile, than the end result.  I worked full-time and was attending college full-time as well being a rather busy community activist.  It was easy to feel overwhelmed but I discovered that if something was that important to me I'd find the time to work on it.  Incrementally, step by step, I completed papers, took exams and checked classes off the list of requirements until I had, two years later, a degree in hand. 

It is pretty rare these days that I don't finish something I begin; even with exhaustion, crankiness and the feeling of being totally overwhelmed I will find a way to push through.  I am looking forward to this month of blogging every day and of course to that last day, when I get to say once again (hopefully), "Woot!  I did it!"