A Gnome A Day - Day 11

I woke up this morning- Day 12 to discover that in all my discombobulation yesterday, I didn't make a gnome. I don't know if I thought I had somewhere in my exhausted psyche or what but it didn't happen.

There is no Day 11 gnome. I was immediately saddened and feel awful.

At first, I was thinking "Well, this is it- you failed! Only eleven days in and you couldn't do it!" in the self flagellation that so many people indulge in when they don't quite manage a task.

Then I stopped myself and thought about it. The point of all this was not to make myself feel awful if I failed, it was to create a daily structure, a goal- something that I make every day to prove to myself that I have the follow through and intention to continue and actually make that happen. I have been doing just that, this was just a slip and being human is part of this life- why would I beat myself up for this? It is through our mistakes that we grow and learn. I learned that I missed greatly that little part of the day. I missed it! What a wonderful thing to learn!

So, I gently soothed my frustration and ruffled feathers and said to myself,

"You don't have the best follow through but look at what you have been through in the last couple weeks: sick children, lots of lack of sleep, birthdays, chaos, establishing an entire daily and weekly rhythm for the children and redoing homeschooling efforts and yesterday you were going off of four hours of sleep and a culmination of all the other sleepless nights and not eating enough- and you made a gnome every single day through all of that until yesterday. Now, you wouldn't let anyone else beat themselves up for this, why in the world is it okay for you to do it to yourself? You haven't established a habit on not making gnomes, you just missed a day in your quest to accomplish the reverse. Go easy."

Properly cowed by the inner mother and higher self and determined that I would endeavour that much harder to make a gnome every day, I made myself a cup of tea and plotted out a new idea for Day 12's gnome.

In honor of Day 11's lack of gnome and as encouragement to myself, I decided a photograph of the gnomes that were made (and haven't sold!) all together, would remind me about what the real goal of this whole experiment is and that, so far, I am doing just fine.

I am off to embark on Day 12's gnome and re-establish the rhythm and peace that each little gnome brings into my day.