The Plenty of a Little Bit

Celebrating small victories means we get to celebrate more.

Summer Goals, Unmet

I had high hopes for all the things I’d accomplish this summer. A massive purge of the clutter around here and a complete restyling of my dining room were on the agenda.

I was going to exercise five days a week and lose enough weight to get myself below a magic number I had in mind. Plus I was going to write — so much writing.

As I should have surmised, these things didn’t quite happen, at least not on the scale I fantasized they would.

My husband and I both worked part-time. He worked his summer job as a caretaker at a local sailing club. I wrote a lot for Medium’s partner program and worked on some other projects.

We went on a missions trip to Antigua as a family. It was a chance to bless others. We were able to earn money for our family this summer but still enjoyed lots of family time.

I’m grateful for this blessing. Maybe all the things didn’t get done, but balance prevailed.

Learning to Love Little Bits

Though my dining room is still the same shade of blue that someone else chose when they painted it eleven years ago, our tiny powder room has been painted. A new faucet and light fixture also made their way into the improvements. It looks wonderful and turned out just how we wanted.

We will be heading on the road soon to visit family before school starts, so there’s no time to paint the dining room. There are built-in cabinets and other details that make it a major undertaking. That project has been “on the list” for about five years now. Maybe next year. The small victory of a freshly-painted powder room is enough for me.

The clutter purging this summer was not massive, but a decent number of things made their way to Goodwill. Some stuff found its way into the hands of community members on a local buy nothing/sell nothing group online. Progress happened and there is less clutter than before, so I count it a small victory.

I imagined I’d be writing so much material that my fingers would be callused from all that typing. Yes, I did write some. Amazingly, some of it was accepted to be published. Some was rejected also, but at least it was read by someone besides me.

Slowly but surely, I’m getting healthy and losing some weight. I won’t be at the goal I had in mind by the end of the summer. However, I have consistently made good choices and lost some weight in an attempt to steward my body well. Again, a small victory.

Some Change >No Change

The plenty of a little bit this summer has been made clear to me. Progress, though not as grand as I’d imagined, is still progress. I’m grateful for what we could accomplish and for the balance we were able to enjoy.

It is a small victory to work towards goals and meet them to some extent instead of quitting.

We managed to have family time, couple time, professional time, and accomplished a few things around the house. That’s not bad at all.

Goal-setting is not new for me, but following through is. This means I’ve had to recalibrate what is actually possible when setting my goals so they are realistic and achievable. It is a small victory to work towards goals and meet them to some extent instead of quitting.

Strive for little bursts of progress. Don’t despair if you don’t meet or exceed your goals. Bit by bit is how everything gets done.

Celebrate small victories. They are enough.

Thank you for reading! I’m Tracy Gerhardt-Cooper, and I invite you to follow me if you’d like to read more real talk about real life. Please follow my publication Middle Ground also for midlife musings. Let’s do life on purpose.