All In

A New Inspiration for a New Year

(Who or what inspired you this year?)

This year, inspiration for my new year's resolution sprung from a kitten named Tucker. Tucker refuses to do things half-way. If a toy mouse catches his eye, he focuses all his energy on playing. When you pet him, he likes to touch your nose with his and gets so into the petting that he will forget himself entirely and bite your nose (lovingly of course). And when he sleeps, he sleeps; you just can't wake him up. Whatever Tucker does, he does it with all his little heart. He is all in, and this year, I want to be "all in" too.

Maintaining Momentum by Sustaining Passion

One of my biggest challenges is maintaining momentum. Maybe you find this a struggle too. As the days go by, my enthusiasm for exercising, waking up early, or writing daily wanes, and as my enthusiasm wanes so does my drive to develop new habits. After reading a few productivity blogs (excellent ones include Zen Habits by Leo Babauta and Sid Savara's Personal Development Training blog), it seemed that maybe one of my problems had to do with my hesitation to jump in with all my heart. Yes, exercising will be good for me, but if I have better things to do or if I have a "heavy" workload then I can skip the gym. Sure it's nice to wake up early, but what if I'm really tired? Writing daily sounds nice, but what if I'm not inspired. I built in excuses that predicted and precipitated failure. This mentality refuses to be "all in," refuses to wager and risk and to allow passion to unfold. Rather, it kept me one foot in and one foot out, only half committing to the goals I set before me.

Instead of predicting failure, "all in" means predicting adventure, happiness, and personal success through hard work and maintaining momentum. It means finding the toy mouse and playing with it till I'm exhausted and then doing it again the next day and the day after that and so on. It means putting myself out there, risking failure but predicting success.

All In-- So What?

What "all in" means to me is committing to be present, committing to be engaged, and committing to live a full and joyful life. What "all in" means for this blog is a commitment to regular posts about living a passionate and present life and looking forward to sharing these adventures with you and hearing about yours as well.

As a current Master's student treading in the world of English literature and TA-ing, posts might include a bit about fantastic books, teaching practices, productivity, delicious foods, events in and around Victoria, and maybe a little bit about politics when I just can't help myself. Hopefully this will be a space for all of us to explore different topics, different passions, and be inspired to be a little more like Tucker.

This is a new path for me (and for Tucker too since he's only 8 months old), and one I hope you'll join us on.

Thanks for stopping in! Tune in for Saturday's fun and fluffy blurb about diving "all in" for the best burger in Victoria. Warning: this may be contentious.