So much in life is about taking the next step. Something I’m not great at doing. In one of my numerous attempts at procrastination this weekend, I found a description of my Myers-Briggs personality type (ENTP, The Inventor). True to this, I’m great at ideas and getting started but not the best at following to completion.
In overall life accomplishments, I don’t have a lot of loose threads. Mostly because I force myself to finish. But it is the last step that is the hardest for me. I think it has a lot to do with fearing failure. With that in mind, Saturday was a big deal. I am halfway through my half-marathon training and I competed my first race, a 10K. It was scary until I actually started running.
This race happened to be a loop that started at the highest elevation and ended with an uphill climb. I figured out how I should feel running and adjusted my pace. It felt like a normal training run. I finished pleased with my final time of 1:06:41. That averaged to 10:38-minute miles. I was thrilled to average faster than 11-minute miles.
This week on my to do list, i have three things I want to mark off as complete: one is professional, one is writing related, and one is a craft project.
The apostle Paul tells us our Christian walk is a race, and we need to race to win. We can’t win if we don’t finish. What part is hardest for you? Starting, staying the course, or finishing?
Gretchen E K Engel 
STARTING for sure. I feel like 1/2, maybe even 2/3 of the battle is over once i get started!
Thanks for sharing Beth! I was hoping to hear from others that find a different part of the journey difficult.
Oh boy, I guess it depends on the project. Some things are easy to get started and I have little choice but to finish, even if I am running out of steam. Like last week when I decided canning 22lbs of peaches would be fun.
Other things I know are going to take more effort so I procrastinate getting started. Like the snowflake stencils and paints I bought to decorate my daughters bed.
And the last are the projects I throw myself into and then forget about – like the white tiger striped crochet blanket I started for my boyfriend in college. We’ve been married 12 years in March and that blanket is a 8″ x 5′ strip that’s been buried in the closet ever since… Or the curtains I made her and then hung up to discover were uneven. So I need to take them down and re-hem them. Maybe before the year is over. Maybe…
So I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say finishing is my bane. 😉
We sound a lot alike. I have totally unfinished projects and others that were fun to tackle. Canning peaches sounds like fun. Definitely something I want to do some time.