bouncing back

7 hours online with tech support regarding

6 missing blog posts;

5 online chat sessions to restore

4 months of work;

3 day holiday weekend delayed the response time of the

2 entities that hold all of the power with my

1 measly website

 

I was starting to get better at showing up regularly to write and posting to my blog every Wednesday. Then I put the cart before the horse and tried to optimize too many things at once, and didn’t notice that my site had lost its mind. It went back to the dark ages. Something happened with some settings with my hosting site, and my site was suddenly sent back to how it was a year ago. They managed to fix it, but the last four months of posts were irretrievably lost.

It has been a lesson in keeping the main thing the main thing instead of jumping to finish things that aren’t immediately necessary. Instead of continuing to post regularly like I’m supposed to, I went dark for a while, then decided that I wanted everything to be awesome all at once. I tried to add products to my site by using a snazzy plugin that didn’t work. Had I been paying regular attention to my blog in its current state, plugging away one step at a time, I wouldn’t have lost all the work I had posted when I was showing up every week.

And, because I got a new computer and failed to save one essential document, I don’t have a backup file of said posts. Guys, don’t be an idiot like me. Save your stuff. I caught a brief glimpse of the ghost headlines of the posts that are forever lost, and here is what little I can piece together of the last several months:

5/4 – Defining Resistance, in which I remind readers what the theme of this blog is really all about: that invisible force that keeps you from improving and doing good work. It’s the opposite of the Muse; it is ease and comfort and wants to keep you mediocre.

5/11 – Instant Gratification, in which I discussed resistance in the form of wanting to see results right away rather than having the patience to hone a specific skill. Putting in your time and pushing yourself to do the work without seeing results right away is what will create success.

5/18 – Play: Being in the Moment was inspired by a gift I got from my mom for my birthday. It’s a Buddha Board, on which you paint with water and it evaporates. It’s a lesson in practice and letting go, that what you make doesn’t have to stand the test of time. Enjoying the act of doing something is valuable enough.

5/25 – Staying Inspired was a list of resources from which I find evergreen inspiration, such as nature and being open to hearing to other people’s stories.

6/15 – Resilience. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could remember anything about this post? Ironically, in trying to bounce back from this data loss, I can’t think of the contents for this particular week.

7/6- Trash and Treasure visited my experience of purging after reading Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” with the end goal of only owning things that bring you joy. The process and result brought with them a certain level of mental and emotional clarity that surprised me. To thoroughly and permanently detach yourself from things that don’t delight you, and to cherish those that do, is very freeing.

I don’t want this post to come across as an excuse for not showing up. I want it to be a cautionary tale to those who are frustrated by slow progress, and a reminder to save your work–even when it doesn’t seem worthwhile at the time. I want it to be a public pledge to you, dear reader, that I will commit to showing up regularly from now on–even if it sometimes feels futile. I’m gonna do it for you and I’m gonna do it for me, because defeating Resistance is the name of the game.