This Post Won’t Go Viral Or Make You Rich

I don’t know about you but sometimes the posts that come floating across my screen make me want to scream.

There is a limit to how many posts I can read and or stomach about how to become a better blogger.  Some of it is because of the echo chamber and the 5 million posts about how to write content that will be shared, what plugins you need and the 5 things every blogger must do.

If I were still the new guy it would be easier to stomach, but I am not. Nine years into blogging there isn’t much that I haven’t heard or seen.

It doesn’t mean that I am the best blogger or perfect or that there isn’t room for improvement– I just need a break.

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

One of the reasons I have taken a broad approach to blogging is because we need to mix things up sometimes. We need to set jump off of the crazy hamster wheel of users, pageviews, comments, tweets, and links to just do something different.

Sometimes that means walking away from the computer to read a book, ride a bike or go skydiving.

Sometimes it is something different. Sometimes it is nothing more than just writing for the love of writing without concern, fear or worry about whether this post will garner the attention of the world.

And this my friends is what I am trying to do right now, or is it write now.

My Schedule Versus The Universe

Wednesday night I played two hours of basketball. I came home feeling great but frustrated.

It was the normal high I get from exercise and from fighting to turn back the clock a few years. We won most of our games but I was frustrated because I missed a bunch of shots right under the basket.

A smaller man was guarding me and I figured it should be easy to post him up and have my way, but it didn’t work that way. I didn’t convert many of those shots and it irritated me.

One of my teammates told me I was taking too long to get into position and that I was getting swarmed or that I was trying to put the ball in from awkward positions.

It made me think of some posts I wrote a while back:

•  Do Things Happen For A Reason?
• A Letter To The Universe
• A Letter To The Universe Part II
• Dear Universe- Straight Answers Please

Themes

There are a couple of themes that run through those posts but I am focused upon timing, will and comfort zone.

I hesitate to mention comfort zone because it is being overused and is coming to have the same value as epic but there is nothing else that works as well.

When I look back upon a chunk of time I see a parade of moments in which life has been exceptionally challenging because I have been forced out of my comfort zone and haven’t been able to impose my will upon things.

Those of you who know me best might smile because that intensity never disappears and I have used it with great success. I have managed to find ways to make things work and sometimes it has been by virtue of will, but it doesn’t always work and I forgot that.

I refused to accept that I couldn’t push things along or make them happen faster and it made me extra grumpy.

But when I took a deep breath and looked around it was like wiping the sleep from my eyes–clarity.

Clarity Doesn’t Mean A Clear View

Clarity doesn’t always refer to sight. Sometimes it is related to accepting ourselves for who we are and trusting that we will find our way through the cobwebs and caves we sometimes visit.

So right now I am taking the moment to enjoy this moment and smiling because those other posts provide proof to me that I have made substantial progress. I may have wandered off course and fallen into the mud and swamp a time or two but I always picked my butt up and move forward again.

Next week I am going post that guy up again and there will be a different ending. It is not because I care about scoring but because it is a symbol to me and sometimes those are important.

• Saved: Life