Keeping Your Eye On The Ball

I started writing this blog in November, 2010. My "New Years" resolution was to write this blog and expound upon issues that dealt with life, love and addiction. One year. Well, I kept it up now for about 15 months and I've gotten some good feedback from folks, which I appreciate.

I started the blog to promote my new CD, "12 Steps And A Winding Road"... and also, to try and "make a difference" in someone else's life. I hope I have succeeded, at least to a small degree.

My first blog was called, "Barn Building". It was inspired by something my son Nate told me about the Amish and how, whenever adversity strikes in the community, or if they simply need it, they get together and work together to make a positive difference. A lot of the time they get together to "build a barn" for someone in the community. Nate told me that he was taking a year of barn-building,... just making himself available to anyone who needed a hand, if he was able to do it. I thought that was pretty admirable. It motivated me to try and do the same thing with my music.

So, this past year I've sort of "put myself out there", making myself available to people, especially as far as my music ministry goes. I've had some good response, but I must admit, for the most part, as I mentioned in a previous blog, I've also had a lot of doors that simply didn't open. Am I disillusioned? Yea, I am somewhat. But, I made a commitment to at least try, and I'm still as willing as ever to be of service.

I wrote a blog called, "The One Thing Rule", about having one thing that you make a commitment to accomplish. That "one thing" might be accomplished in a day, or a week, or a month, or even a year.... but, it is something that you keep on your radar and try to do. If it's a year then you have to handle it in bite-size chunks so it doesn't overwhelm you. That's the way it was the year I recorded the 12-Steps CD.... a bit here and a bit there until I finally got it done.

This year my goal is to get rid of "stuff" in my life that doesn't need to be there. The baggage that somehow all of us acquire that sort of "weighs down" our lives. I want to live a bit more "clutter free".

Do you know what your "baggage" is? Most of the time it's simply "stuff", but, it might even be a relationship with someone who is dragging you down. People can do that. Addicts are told that they need "new playmates" and a "new playground". This is important if they are to achieve any success at sobriety. But, even if you don't consider yourself an "addict", there might be the possibility that, at least in some regard, you might want to consider changing playmates or playgrounds, just for the sake of good health or sanity. This doesn't mean necessarily that you desert your friend(s) altogether. It might simply mean that you need to distance yourself from a particular relationship that is hindering your physical or mental health. Something to think about anyway.



So,... whatever it is that you are trying to accomplish, whether it's building a barn, keeping sobriety, setting any particular goal,.. it's good to remember to keep your eye on the ball....so it doesn't knock you in the head...



If you know of someone who might be interested in my 12-Step music CD, I have made it available on Ebay and plan to keep it on there as long as it seems feasible to do so. You can go to ebay and simply type in the words: 12 Steps And A Winding Road



Thanks again for all your good comments over the year. You've been an encouragement to me.
I may change things up a bit and, though not altogether stopping the blog, I may just limit it to times when I think I have something useful to say and not simply put it out there every week.
If you have some suggestions I'd love to hear them....