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You know how a day can sometimes take on a theme of its own?  Well today’s the day for persistence, accumulation, or little by little catchee monkey.

I weighed myself this morning – something I knew I shouldn’t do really – but I decided I needed to know how much extra poundage I’d accumulated over the last few weeks – since my birthday really.  For some reason, people like to give me chocolates for my birthday, and for another reason, I seem to feel obliged to eat them!  I do share – my husband has an equally expanded girth, but I think his might have more to do with extra pints of beer!!  I reflected, as I watched the scales head ever higher, that although I only had a few chocolates a day, and those after meals (I like to think that chocolates eaten with other food don’t have the same calorific impact as those eaten mid-afternoon <G>), there had also been those rather wonderful Hot X Buns that I had indulged in and that the two delicacies compounded over a period of 1 ½ months to add about half a stone to my weight.

As I walked Charlie, I reflected on being a tortoise – something that had come up in conversation a couple of days before – I’m a plodder, doing things on a small but daily basis ie weaving, reading, writing, accumulating knowledge and experience.  Some things that you do on a daily basis are merely to prevent descent into disarray and disorder, or to keep the status quo, such as washing up, cooking, eating, cleaning (if absolutely necessary!).  Some things you only need to do on a more occasional basis, at least if you’re me, such as gardening. 

But some things need regular attendance to grow into something greater.  All the books in my library at home, and everywhere else, represent other people’s plodding.  They worked consistently to produce their book which has enriched my, and others’ , lives.  Every piece of artwork we admire on gallery walls is there through persistence to following the craft of the artist’s medium, as well as the brilliance of their artistic insight, and their desire to communicate that, or just to record it.  Every building is there through the monotonous but orderly layering of bricks, incorporating features such as windows and doors. 

So, when I am feeling a little despondent because of my plodding, I just have to remember that I am building something for the future – that without the daily input of small, seemingly insignificant samples, I cannot produce the art work that I envisage.  And as to my weight, I have to remember that, just as I put the weight on gradually over a period of weeks, I will need to work to remove it in a similar way – little by little, consistently, with determination and persistence. 

If you want to succeed in anything, be it losing weight, or becoming a reknowned artist, it is holding to your goal that matters, and taking small regular steps in order to get there.  I know this, you know this, but sometimes we just need to remind ourselves.