Alternate Title: One Piece at a Time
Second Alternate Title: Step By Step
You’ve heard the old saying about how to eat a whale, I’m sure. It always reminds me of the Shel Silverstein poem “Melinda Mae.”
Accomplishing a big task one small step at a time is such an obvious thing, but it’s somehow still so easy to forget. I noticed this past week that I was in need of a reminder.
Ever since I accepted my spot on the World Race, I’ve been having occasional moments of panic where I’m convinced I’ve bitten off infinitely more than I can chew. Just the thought of figuring out how to pack 11 months’ worth of my life into one 65-liter backpack is stressful enough.
Thinking about the seemingly infinite list of tasks to accomplish before January doesn’t get me excited for my trip so much as it fills me with a paralyzing dread. How am I ever going to be able to get all of that done?! Never mind actually traveling around the world; I don’t think I can make it to the airport.
Here’s what I keep reminding myself, though: I don’t have to do all the stuff on my insane to-do list. I just have to do one thing. More importantly, God is laying out all the steps for me and holding my hand along the way (Psalm 37:23-24).
So, that giant list that’s keeping me awake at night? I can’t do it. But I can do one thing! That one thing might be taking five minutes to mail my passport application, or it might be spending countless hours researching and shopping for outdoor equipment, but I can do it!
You know what else? As unprepared as I sometimes feel, I have managed to do a TON over the past few months, one thing at a time. My accomplishment list is a lot less stressful to consider than my to-do list. Check it out:
- Applied for and accepted on the World Race (just getting through the application/interview process was an achievement in itself)
- Resigned from my job
- Moved out of my apartment
- Moved into my parents’ house
- Sorted through 28-years’ worth of junk to make an apartment of stuff fit into a bedroom
- Made 11 medical/dental appointments (this for someone who went to the doctor exactly once between 2008 and 2014)
- Driven 3,348 miles (Add to the to-do list: oil change)
- Attended two months of weekly counseling appointments
- Written 6,428 words for this blog
- Researched, comparison shopped, and bought $1387.89 of gear
- Fundraised $8,560 and counting – THANK YOU to everyone who’s donated!
So, I now have two to-do lists. There’s the enormous list of everything that needs to get done before January, and then there’s this much simpler list:
- Remember that God is in control
- Pick one thing and do it
Come January, I’m going to look like this:
