Becoming Great

Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.

-William Shakespeare

Or, in more modern terms, some people are MADE to be great. We can't all be born that way, and with my low achievement past, I'd say I wasn't. But that doesn't mean I can't ever be.

I can make myself into whoever and whatever I want to be. Which brings me to why I'm here, tonight, starting a new blog.

I want to change my life.

Who doesn't want to change a thing or two in their lives? And we all swear that someday, we're going to do it. We're going to pursue our dream profession; we're going to exercise more; we're going to eat better; we're going to work harder at our jobs. But we'll do all of those things tomorrow.

Well, my tomorrows have come and went and no change has been seen. I still haven't finished my books, I still haven't become a regular, steady blogger, I've never kept to an exercise schedule, and I've never believed that I even COULD stick to a diet regimen. My financial situation is nothing short of abysmal, and if I don't change something quick, it's only going to get worse. Not to mention, my messy house just seems to grow messier.

I've beat myself up over these lack of achievements for years, and still gotten no where.

But this is where I change all of that.

I'm going to take a stand, now, before my life has passed me by without my ever doing any of the things I've always dreamed of. And I'm sick of hating myself for not being "in control" or "disciplined" enough to make what I want happen.

But it isn't a lack of control. It isn't a lack of self-discipline. I have those things in spades, as I've proven time and again as I've turned down drugs, cigarettes, and gratuitous sex. 

So, why do I have control on some things, but not in others? Well, I've trained myself in how to deal with those situations, I have the skills and personal motivation required to address them, I am friends with people who support my beliefs in those areas (even if they don't always share them), and I stay away from situations and things that would push me towards giving into temptation.

Unfortunately, I've done the opposite when it comes to my other goals.

So, to change, I'm learning new skills that apply to these goals, concentrating on my motivation whenever I am tempted, and surrounding myself by encouragement and an accommodating environment for change. And now I'm making myself socially accountable through this blog.

Here are my goals for this year (2013):

1. Exercise, stretch, meditate, and work on my writing every morning & every evening
2. Journal, stick to a budget, & write a poem daily
3. Blog daily
4. Clean & organize environment
5. Set diet (list healthy choices, count calories consumed & calories burned)
6. Learn to cook healthy alternatives
7. Sketch something daily
8. Write daily (x amount of words daily on main project)
9. Improve posture (Alexander technique)
10. Learn Spanish
11. Learn belly dancing
12. Improve my Walmart work performance
13. Start composting
14. Study anatomy
15. Learn chess
16. Study classical literature

I've already been at the first one for almost a month now. (will be at 4 weeks tomorrow, actually) without missing a day. And I've begun integrating the second, third, and fourth. I have to remind myself to start slowly, but those first four are so important that I can't feel right in putting them off very long.

Well, in case you haven't guessed yet, I'm starting this blog to catalog and encourage myself towards changing my life. And, in some part, I'm doing this with the hope that someone else out there who also wasn't born great will read this, and maybe be inspired to start achieving goals of their own. Who knows? Anything could happen, right?

That's what this is all about.

Daily stats:

1. Exercised, stretched, meditated, and wrote both in the morning and night
2. Wrote in my journal and began designing my budget for the coming 2 weeks.
3. Blogged for the day.
4. Cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, did laundry, and picked up in my room.