Slaying Dragons and Painting Dreams

“Thanks to Thanksgiving Break, I’ve had a moment or two of clarity and I’ve concluded that “goal slay” is as much about slaying the dragons that stand in our way as it is about actually achieving our goals: Dragons of time. Dragons of demands. Dragons of habit. Dragons of neglect. Dragons of doubt and fear.”

via Slaying Dragons and Painting Dreams

I hope you’ll click on the link to read the rest of Chandra Lynn’s words. I love that she talks about how new goals need room and challenge set ways, even good habits. Her post made so much sense to me that I asked if I could reblog it. This is just a snippet.

Chandra’s post made me think of my favourite book when I was a child: Michael Ende’s Momo. The original title in German means Momo, or the strange story of the time-thieves and the child who brought the stolen time back to the people. The idea of time as something that can(‘t) be stolen and brought back just blew my young mind.

I’m grown up now, and I may have turned into one of the adults the book describes. I’m not sure, I haven’t read the book in ages. I’m thinking about reading it again. Not in the Dutch translation I read as a child, but maybe in German, or even in English. To read it with a fresh eye, not just as a plain old boring adult.

I knowI must be thieving my own time sometimes. Do I do what I really want to? Do I invest in the people and things that matter most to me? Can I give time I stole from myself, back to myself? What could that look like?

I know I’m doing my best at a lot of things. Maybe I should do my best less. As Chandra Lynn writes: “Even our perceived good habits have to change if we are to accomplish our goals.” I’ve always been better at cramming new goals into the existing space, then in making room for them.

In 2016 I wrote about conflicting goals: “Too often we promise ourselves things that conflict, without noticing it. A goal needs space. Brain space, time space, dragon slaying space, recovery space… If it doesn’t need any of those, I bet it’s not a goal.

Looking back, I don’t think I really took all those different spaces into account when I started my November project. That’s probably why the first week was too much for me, and why I did better in the second week (I learned from week 1).

I’m in the third week now, and I’ve hit a speed bump: fever asks me to slow down, and that’s what I’m doing. Not sure if it’s a bad cold or a light flu, but either way, I’m creating space for recovery.

I am slowly running out of episodes of The Soprano’s, so I hope I get well soon 😉

#NaBloPoMo day 23