You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

So, my mantra as a sixth grade teacher was always...

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

whispered to me over andover again by dear, sweet Eleanor Roosvelt, whom I hold close to my heart. I just love this woman, and this quote has always rang true in my life: my first year teaching 5th grade in Los Angeles, moving across the ocean to teach in Hong Kong, and beginning to run.

It seems the minute I finally come to the place where I say to myself, "I can't (fill in the blank)" I know what I need to do,what I have to do... easy to say. hard to do. well I 've come to this place again...

only this time with blogging...Reading blogs is so fun and so easy. I'm unabashadly addicted. But writing a blog...now that's a completely different story...

Okay, so, up until now, I have written about 30 blogs and looked at the looming PuBLisH button and ran the other direction.

There are so many similarities between creating art, blogging, and being naked:

They are vulnerable.

They require a piece of me.
They require me to be honest. I can't fake it.

They bring out all of the inner critic screaming, "Your thighs are tree trunks."

and it's just like this mountain I have to climb and I get to this spot where I push and push and feel the burn, and it's painfuland I hate it, and finally I reach the top... and there is nothing more thrilling and satisfying. The pain and the sweat was so worth it.

The blogging journey is very similar to the painting journey. It's painful and scary and thrilling and liberating... but most of all it'svulnerable.

You really can't fake it or else it comes out lame and just embarrassing.

I think I've been trying to write as this person I wish I was (you know, the woman who is up at 5:00 to jog 5 miles with her golden and her 2 kids in toe, cleans out her fridge on a regular basis, and always wears accessories to match her lipstick). I'm just thankful to brush my teeth and not get otu the door with something, that's not too wrinkled & doesn't have to be ironed.

So here's my plan: I'm just going to start writing a little each day about my "small moments" in the most honest way I can. I'mgoingto teach myself to write,day by day,post by post, just like my kindergarteners learn.

I think I learned once, but I feel like I've forgotten everything I ever learned. I feel like I don't even know what good writing is. I know it when I read it, (like every singlepost from wienerdogtricks & kellyraeroberts) hilarious and inspiring, inthat order, but I couldn't tellyou how to get there...

So, the journey begins...