Three times each week I spend 45 minutes exercising on my treadmill. This activity takes every ounce of energy that I possess. It sucks the vigor out of every sinew and muscle in my body and leaves me mentally drained. Yet at the end of my time, I have not moved an inch. Some might believe that since I have made no forward progress that I have unquestionably just wasted my time on a misguided venture.Certainly we all must recognize that, at times, there is a fine line between dedication and insanity. Perseverance and tenacity vs. stubbornness and idiocy. Yet I believe that the decision whether to press on or step off in anything that we undertake, whether to continue with the effort or to recognize that we are fooling ourselves, depends on our ultimate goal.
I spend time on my treadmill to exercise my heart and body and mind. My goal is not to move from point A to point B but to elevate my heart rate for an extended period and to move my major muscle groups to keep my body fit and limber. The same sort of self-evaluation is essential in any endeavor.
I write a blog for which I post five days a week. I don't have too many readers, thus a very small audience. But I write because I can take my mind to wonderful places of healing and love and fantasy that I otherwise wouldn't visit. I can share my love of reading. I can keep in touch with a few folks who would otherwise slip away or who I would not have met. Who knows, maybe someone out there might connect with something that I have written that might give them perspective or heal them or start their day with a smile. I don't write to gain countless followers or to boost my ego.
You see, in anything that you undertake, success depends on your goals. It is from that recognition that you must decide if the effort is worth it.