A Little Gem: Being Good at Something

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À la Martha Stewart’s “Good Things” and Neil Pasricha’s “1000 Awesome Things“, I’m starting my own little expression to reflect on splendid things, called little gems.  (Yes, the jewelry reference is intentional!)

I’ve been especially cognizant of little gems lately, as I seem to be lacking too many.  As my friend Boops would say, “that’s not a complaint, just a statement of fact.”

The latest little gem that I’ve “discovered” is Being Good at Something.  I mean REALLY, HONESTLY GOOD at something.  I realized a few months ago when I started on my current path of completely re-thinking my life and moving toward living my dreams (lofty indeed!), that there might be some bumps along the road.  Well, last week I hit some huge potholes.

Launching a new life:

* First of all, I moved to a new city.  Although it’s my hometown, so I do have family and good friends here, it’s still not a place I’ve lived since I was a teenager – 17 years ago.  So there have been some major adjustments to make.

* Then, I decided that I would launch not one but TWO NEW CAREERS.   Yep, so I’m freelance writing and designing jewelry.  I’ve dabbled in both before, but let’s face it, I’m not a pro at either.

* On the urging of a friend, I joined CrossFit, which I LOVE because it has whipped my body into amazing shape in three months, but for which I’m now having to painstakingly learn how to correctly (or optimally) perform dead lifts, clean and presses, squats, and more.

All of this to say that it has been a tough couple of weeks, as I’ve tried to dramatically improve my skills at all of these endeavors plus handle of life’s regular, everyday trials.  I realized that I was setting myself up for a lot of potential challenges/failures, and I take responsibility for that.  But I will never again take for granted – personally or professionally – BEING REALLY GOOD AT SOMETHING.

À bientôt,

k.