With the beginning of another school year, there’s another start that is important in my life. Three years ago I started blogging as Hectic-Dad. Back then nobody knew who I was. My family thought I was totally crazy. My IRL (In Real Life) friends had no idea what a blog was. In short, I started on a journey that not only didn’t have a planned destination, but a journey that I believed I was going on alone.
Boy was I wrong!
Over the past three years I’ve come into contact with a vibrant, welcoming community of folks from all over the globe. I’ve met people who’ve had a huge impact on my life. I’ve learned about subjects that I didn’t even know existed. And more importantly, I’ve found a place to take the thoughts that rattle about in my head and put them into a form that other people can not only read, but respond to.
That first post I put out onto the internet wasn’t much. A sparse 280 words. If you’ve read any of my other posts, that’s pretty much what I could fit on a Post-It note. I’m verbose…I get that. But that first post opened up a floodgate of ideas that had been stuck in my head for years. Twelve short months later I wrote a post recounting my story of why and how I got started. I patted myself on the back for 106 blog posts. I was pretty proud of myself.
Another twelve months in and I celebrated my second anniversary as a blogger. Again, I nearly broke my arm patting myself on the back. By then it wasn’t so much about the number of posts, it was already about the entire thing that Hectic-Dad had become. I had a presence on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. You’d read about my kids and the various places they went to school, the sports they competed in, and the time that I’ve spent on the road and at sporting events. You’d also read about how we’re always on the cusp of unraveling at Hectic Manor. And you’d read about how we’d pull back from the precipice just in time.
So here I am, writing at the kitchen table with another year of blogging under my belt. As of today I’ve published 325 posts on this blog, with a couple more already in the pipeline. I’ve learned that I dare not post anything without spending two sessions editing. One for content and the other for grammar. I’ve learned that the hard way by going back and re-reading some of my earlier posts. I’ve even gone on a couple spells of editing the old posts because the pain of poor grammar is more than I could bear! I toyed with doing a word count on all my posts, but to be quite honest I know that you don’t care. As you can see, I’ve learned a little bit about the folks who read my blog! So I’ll spare you those gory details, but I make no promises that it won’t come up at a later time.
I’ve also discovered that blogging is hard. But more importantly, I’ve discovered that doing anything consistently is hard. You’d think I’d have learned that before this…but somehow I dodged that bit of knowledge. Or I ignored it. Probably the latter! I’ve learned that I can’t just rely on my muse to get me going. I know, from an intellectual standpoint, that I need to be consistent in creating content. That means writing on a regular basis. In fact, it really means writing every day. Of course, just because I know something in my head doesn’t mean that I take that knowledge and apply it. Heck, I’m lucky to write on two days of the week. But I’ve gotten better about that. And it’s something I’m putting into my plan for this upcoming 2016-2017 season of Hectic-Dad. I’m going to work on being even more consistent with my writing. I’m going to do a lot more dumping of my ideas from my head to my screen. Some you’ll see in posts…some will just get out of my head and not become anything more…just words on a page. The idea is that I want to build a habit of consistency.
You see, here’s the dirty little secret that I keep trying to ignore:
Whether it’s blogging or life in general,
you need to show up, day-in and day-out.
Some days it’s easy, there’s a spark and you’re just really into it. Other days it’s a chore to just get out of bed. Those are the days where you need to push through. While you might not be as engaged as you’d like to be, or even as engaged as you should be…you’ve got to be there to get anything out of the day.
So that’s what this upcoming year is going to be about for me: Consistency. I’m going to strive to be consistent in everything I do…blogging, parenting, even cleaning the house. I’m going to show up, whether I feel like it or not! I’m going to accomplish something every day. While I would love to say that I’m going to be engaged and alert all the time, let’s face it…that’s not life. At least it’s not in the cards for my hectic life. But it’s a combination of the up times and the down times that make us who we are. Regardless of how I’m feeling every day, I’m going to work on getting something done. Consistently.
While my end-results may not be any better, I might not write more blog posts, and dinner might not be on the table earlier…I’m going to attack all of those things and everything else in my life each and every day. I’m going to show up and give it the best that I’ve got on that day. I’m taking back some control, throwing away the excuses, and looking to be better than I’ve been in the past. I’m going to embrace the good days along with the not-so-good ones and apply one of my favorite sayings on a daily basis…
Make it a great day!
