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The Affirmation of Perseverance

by Jennifer V. Miller

On September 8th, 2009, I accepted Sandra Martini’s 30 Day Blog Challenge.  Simple contest: blog 30 times in 30 days to see what will happen when a person does “one ordinary thing” consistently.  I knew going into the contest that it would indeed be a “challenge”, and not because there wasn’t anything to write about.  I have blog post ideas aplenty. The challenge has been to find the time to write a well-written blog post that’s meaningful to my readers.

Why did I sign up? Guess I was ready for a good challenge.  I’m new to blogging; this seemed like a good way to raise the bar. Today is the last day of the contest and when this blog is posted, I’ll have met the challenge. I feel at once celebratory and relieved. More than once, I was ready to throw in the towel.  A niggling voice in my head whispered, “Is this really worth it?  It’s just a silly self-imposed personal challenge. Nobody will know if you just quietly bail out. And even if they do, does it really matter?”

Why persevere?  If a person gives up and nobody knows about it, is she still a quitter? 

Somewhere along the way, I realized, “Yep, I can quit. Any time I want, with very little consequence. Lives will not be impacted, revenue will not be lost. The only disappointed one will be me.” Luckily, I remembered that my opinion does count for something, even if I happen to be the only one keeping stock. For me, that’s all the more payoff the #30dayblog challenge needed to yield.

Oct 08 2009 · Categorized: Personal Effectiveness · Tagged: Authenticity, Courage, Social Media

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sandra Martini says

    October 12, 2009 at 2:11 pm

    Hi Jennifer,

    CONGRATULATIONS on accepting AND meeting the #30DayBlog Challenge!

    Great posts!

    Sandy 🙂

  2. Becky Robinson says

    October 13, 2009 at 3:17 am

    Adding my congratulations. Perseverance IS worth it, even if you are only continuing for yourself.

    But, Jennifer, I bet you would be surprised at how many people were watching you and pulling for you. I certainly was… and you show your character by saying something and then doing it.
    Way to go!

  3. Jennifer says

    October 13, 2009 at 5:13 am

    Thanks, Sandy and Becky for your feedback. Becky, it’s humbling to know folks were paying attention. Sometimes we think we’re doing this alone, but we’re not. Thank you for helping me remember that.

  4. Susan Mazza says

    October 13, 2009 at 5:23 am

    Congratulations!

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