27: Jolt of Joy – Two Steps Forward and One Step Back

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back Is Still Forward

A little pep talk today, born out of an unexpectedly chaotic couple of days that could have gone one of two ways.

The strange way motivation actually shows up

Motivation has a funny habit of arriving sideways. A task that’s been sitting untouched for ages suddenly feels urgent, usually right when something else important needs doing instead. That’s exactly what happened with a section of fence that had been needing paint for far too long, sitting in the most visible spot near the front door. A sudden, unplanned stretch of unscheduled time at home, caused by canceled plans and a kid’s minor injury, finally created the window to tackle it.

When a good idea spirals into three good ideas at once

In the middle of finally getting motivated, it’s tempting to stack on more: while the fence dried between coats, why not also scrub the grimy windows nearby? A reasonable plan in theory. In practice, attempting to tilt open a window for cleaning caused its track mechanism to pop loose and drop the piece down inside the wall, leaving the window gorilla-taped shut against a cold, breezy night until a repair person could come.

Counting the wins as wins, even next to a loss

Here’s the part worth sitting with: that same stretch of time also meant the fence finally got fully painted, done, no reason to touch it again for years, and a garage space that had been a source of ongoing frustration got completely cleared out, just in time to make holiday guests and extra cars far easier to manage. One broken window is a real setback, but it doesn’t erase two genuine wins sitting right next to it. Two steps forward and one step back is still, unmistakably, a step forward.

Continuity over consistency, once again

When a schedule gets thrown into complete disarray, canceled appointments, shifted plans, an unexpected detour, it’s easy to spiral into feeling like everything fell apart. But a rigid commitment to consistency tends to crumble exactly in moments like these. Choosing continuity instead, showing up in whatever way still makes sense given the circumstances, allows for a graceful pivot rather than a full collapse.

The window will get fixed. The fence and garage are done. And that’s a trade worth celebrating rather than dwelling on.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.