A timely growth opportunity

We've all been there. The moment you realize that you have invested a significant amount of time, effort and energy on a project only to realize that your masterpiece (article, complex email, etc.) has been "lost" somewhere in cyberspace with no way to retrieve it.

This happened to me today. I made a commitment to publish a new article to my blog every Sunday. This always seems doable until Saturday rolls around. This time I really pushed the deadline as a number of unexpected challenges arose during the week.

I worked on the article, found a suitable image and was pleased with the results of my efforts. I hit publish and then refreshed the page. No new article. Where did it go? I frantically searched thinking it must still be there. All of that work couldn't possibly be gone with no hope for recovery.

So I had a choice to make. To throw up my hands and believe that fate wasn't on my side (the blame game never feels good).
Or, I could decide to publish an article...today.

See it was more than just missing one week of posting. The intention set was to practice honoring my commitments to myself. No one else was holding me accountable. But, I knew that I set this goal. And I wanted to establish a new belief that I could trust myself to keep my word.

There are so many little ways in which we break our promises to ourselves. When we say we're going to work out and then we don't. When we decide to eat better, but don't follow through. 

And so today, I chose to feel the frustration of having "lost" my work and yet this may have been the best possible outcome. Because in losing the work, I gained an opportunity to decide whether I would keep my word to myself. 

The lesson in this for me (and hopefully for you) is that if we are willing and open-minded, we can always find the gift or the opportunity in any challenge we're faced with. It's the place from which we can regain a sense of control. We can step into our power rather than throwing up our hands in defeat.

What is the lesson here for you? In what ways can you practice honoring your commitments to yourself and having your own back when things don't go according to plan?

Let me know in the comments.