Failure

By now you're probably wondering who this person is who can just set rules for herself and make drastic changes in her life. The truth is not quite like that. I fail all the time. But I figure if I do eighty or ninety percent of what I set out to do, I'm still way ahead of where I was when I set out.

The point is in trying. I've always believed that you are who you choose to be. Everyone has had a difficult life. Part of being human is overcoming challenges. We see this principle in action as our society becomes more affluent. Teenagers who have had everything they could ever want all their lives seem to intentionally screw up in some way, just to have something to overcome. If they're not sabatoging themselves, they're getting into ever more extreme sports. Unless we have serious depression issues, we crave a good challenge.

Some of the goals/rules I've set for myself have been inspired by discontent. I didn't like the way my life was going. Most were inspired by the love of a good challenge and the desire to raise my standing in the world. Before the idea of a bucket list became popular again, someone told me I should write down the things I want to accomplish before I die and try working on one of those things at a time. The last part was the most important for me. Work on one thing at a time.

This is hard stuff. As you've probably gathered from my blog address, I'm a Mensa member. School was easy for me. It trained me to be academically lazy. If I can't be good at something right away, I don't want to pursue it. I've spent every day since high school trying to undo that early training. That training is why the top two percent of the population, in terms of IQ are not the most successful members of our society. Then next five percent below actually are, because they learned to work hard trying to keep up with us in school. Since I just learned to hate school, my interests were focused on home.

My grandma was a brilliant homemaker. She could do every kind of craft, preserve every kind of food, grow every kind of plant. She was also 70 years old at my earliest memory. It's helps to remind myself of this. If I learn to preserve one new thing each year, I'll be as impressive as she was at 70. If I learn one new craft AFTER another (finishing each before starting the next) I'll be a genius to my grandkids. If I grow one new plant a year, someday my thumb will turn green.

After 15 years of building my family and my home, I am finally beginning to realize some feeling of success. We eat things I have grown and preserved almost daily. We finally were able to purchase a home, and my creative crafting and sewing skills allowed me to decorate it and make it fun for very little money. I even designed built in bunk beds which my husband constructed for our girls.

But I wouldn't be here without all those failures along the way! The only real failure is the failure to try.

This year we're trying bowling. I'm checking out leagues for the fall. Having never been in a league sport of any kind, this is really new to all of us. My top score is 130 and I'm lucky if I bowl one strike in a game. My five year old nearly beat me today. This is going to take a lot of trying.

What are you trying right now?