Staying the Course

Well, Friday was one of the nicest days we've had around here in a long time, so we ditched the painting plans and went out for a walk and just sat at a viewpoint on a bench for about an hour taking in the wonderful view and reminding ourselves of why we came here in the first place and why we need to keep working at it.  We needed a reminder.  The middle of January is tough at the best of times but sometimes you can really forget how wonderful a nice day feels when you're inside all the time.  When the sun came out, we looked out and decided on the spot to spend the day by the ocean.  We wished we had brought a picnic but who thinks of that in winter?   It seemed like everyone had the same idea, we ran into a lot of people on the trail.  It felt like paradise here.  Can't wait until summer now, and what motivation to keep on working until our place is done.  
Sometimes it seems like we'll never get to the end of the jobs but while we're working at this we make a point of stopping what we're doing and enjoying good food, a movie maybe and going out to do a little shopping or to a local restaurant.  
I am so looking forward to when we just have normal chores to do and we can live our normal life with a house that is finished.  We are so close.  When you are this close to a goal it seems that there's a plateau, an inertia that you have to get past to finish.  I've been struggling with this lately so I was looking for some info on how to get past this phase, it can't be that uncommon.  So I stumbled on this  article about staying motivated while trying to accomplish something.  Now I feel so much better.  This is so true.  Like the famous line by Woody Allen, 'most of success is just showing up'. 
I thought about that a lot during the years after a great tragedy in my life.
I decided to keep showing up for life when it seemed like there were a lot of reasons to give up.  I showed up and people showed up for me.  I didn't need anything spectacular from anyone, just be there.  I learned a lot from that time.  I learned how to be there for other people too, even when you don't know what to do or say, it matters and it makes a big difference when you can stay with it and be there.
So we are going to continue to be there for ourselves and for our work on the house and we are going to make it!

Hope