The TL;DR version of this post: I’d planned to upload photos to my Instagram page every day in September, but that didn’t happen. That said, I don’t see this as a failure!

Okay, let me explain. 😊

I’m in a season of learning. My current path centres around finding myself in the chaos of the twenty-twenties, making peace with what I can’t change, and offering myself the same kindness with which I so readily shower others. Part of this journey involves identifying the positives in all experiences, even failures (which isn’t always easy, I’ll concede 🤣).

I prepared for the challenge in advance. I created a lot of content and scheduled some of it two weeks before September started. For the rest, I drew up a content creation schedule, which I still believe would’ve been enough to see me to the end of the challenge.

But then life happened. Personal stuff popped up (such as the opportunity to attend a craft market with my Foxie and the Moon accessories), and as my attention turned to more pressing things, scheduling the remaining content slipped my mind.

Once, missing a single day of a challenge would’ve sent me spiralling, but the rules I’d set in place at the start allowed me some breathing room. Especially the second rule, ‘my mental/emotional capacity will directly determine whether or not I open the app on any given day,’ was a game changer. It allowed me to focus on the pressing stuff happening behind the scenes without crashing waves of guilt.

Lately, I can’t stop thinking about the Nora Roberts glass vs plastic balls analogy. We’re all juggling life, work, relationships, hobbies, and so on, brainwashed to believe that ‘dropping the ball’ is unacceptable. But it’s impossible to keep all balls flying indefinitely or even to keep them reaching the same height. So, ipso facto, some balls will drop. 😉

The trick is to distinguish the material each ball is made of. Some are rubber or plastic and will survive a drop. Others are made of glass.

I used to struggle with finding the ‘droppable’ balls. As I’m sure any lifelong perfectionist can attest, it isn’t easy picking tasks at which we’re allowed to fail. But a close friend changed my perspective with this simple advice: focus instead on those things we mustn’t neglect, such as family and health.

Identifying the glass balls first is so much easier!

The point is, even though I ‘dropped the ball’ on the Instagram challenge, I know it was plastic and can be picked up again. That gives me peace. Besides, I’ve been able to keep up posting even now that the challenge is over. And that was the goal, so yay, win!

I’m so grateful to the lovely community gathered around my platforms. Reconnecting with all of you through my blog and now Instagram has been fantastic, and I can’t wait to continue this journey with you.

Yolandie.