Small Successes

There are so many difficult things we who have dealt with pregnancy loss have to face. We question why this had to happen to us, to our child. We face friends and family all around us having children. There are baby showers and baptisms and so much more. In my case, and I'm sure it's the case for others as well, there is also the not knowing if you can get pregnant again or how long it's going to be. Will I have to wait a year again? Longer? Will I need to take some sort of fertility medication or should we just pursue adoption and give up on successfully having children of our own. Even if we get pregnant, will the pregnancy last??

Dwelling on all these things can really bring one down!! I have had my fair share of down days because of these thoughts and questions and others like them.

I was reminded recently of a time when I was a lot more carefree--someone referred to me as "bopping" around the office (not at UK, at a previous place of employment). I don't think I really appreciated that time, because I know I had concerns and worries then too. But they were so different then. And in a way, I knew deep down that the things I was concerned with then weren't as big as they seemed.

Is that how, one day far off from now, I'll look back on this time?? Possibly, but it's hard to imagine at the moment.

All these thoughts and questions and things that bring one down forced me to think of a way to undo all that, even if for just a brief moment. And I came up with this post. Now hang on with me here, I know this hasn't exactly sounded like an uplifting post yet. Keep reading ...

I decided today that to help me focus on other, better, things in my life, I would start this weekly post. Yep, I said weekly! I've said it before and it has always fallen by the wayside. So if you are a regular reader of this blog (the 2 or 3 people out there who are??), I need your help if I start slacking off (a comment in any recent post will alert me).

This is what I'll be doing. Each Friday, or maybe Saturday (hey, I need a little leeway, it is the weekend!), I will create a post called Small Successes. The idea is to post about 3 (or more) things that I accomplished or feel was a small success in my life during the week. And I want to hear from others as well. So leave your small successes in the comments, or post your own small successes on your blog and share the link in my comments box. It will be nice to share those small successes and to see what kinds of small things we all do. Sharing these with others may remind us of many more small things we do each week that we forget about or hadn't even considered a success previously. In other words, nothing is too small!

Here are mine for this week:

1. I actually made it to adoration ON TIME Monday morning! I have to be there at 6am, but also the security system on the door doesn't unlock until 6am. And I got there before the door unlocked!! That is quite an accomplishment for me!
   
2. I finished putting together my four "work samples" at work this week and turned them all in. Very glad to have that done!! (This has to do with a promotion I am going up for this fiscal year, it's going to be a lot of work in the next few months so you will may hear about it again.)
   
3. I remembered at the last minute to put a card in the mail for my niece's first birthday. I'm usually really good with this sort of thing, but sometimes it slips my mind and I put it in the mail a day late. Just barely got it in one morning before leaving for work! (Not to mention that we have quite a large family, so staying on top of the birthdays for 2 grandmothers, 4 parents, 8 siblings, 5 spouses of siblings, and 10 nieces and nephews--and growing--is a bit of a job! Oh, and anniversaries and Mother's and Father's Day as well.)
   
4. One more for good measure: After several unsuccessful attempts, I managed to finally get on a roll writing my "personal statement" (also something associated with this promotion thing). I just needed to find the right path to go down. I actually managed to write almost two pages today after several attempts at a paragraph or two and then deleting all of it. I'm hoping the path I'm on now will be something I still like when I look at it again on Monday morning.

What are your small successes for this week??

If anyone has a suggestion for some sort of picture or clip art that would be appropriate for our "Small Successes" posts, let me know. I'll be looking too but would like suggestions as well.