The power of "I can do it!"

The Little Engine That Could is one of my favorite stories. I love the message "by the power of positive thinking things that appeared to impossible, and that people said you couldn't do, are achievable". At 5, or 8, or even 19 it seemed that as long as I could dream it, I could achieve it. But it isn't always about the dreaming. In the end the Little Blue Engine makes it up the hill and into the valley to save the toys not just because she thought she could, but because she worked hard and actually did it.


Phineas and Ferb live in some mystical land where they get 104 days of summer vacation, we get 78. It was a total bummer when I figured that out a few years ago. So I decided in order to make the most of those few days and so that the kids will have other activities to do than to bicker, touch, fight, scream, etc at each other, we needed to make some plans. Two years ago, in addition to a bunch of fun summer activities, I also had some things I wanted to get accomplished. Like swimming lessons and everybody learns to ride a two-wheeler bike. Though we've had swimming lessons each year, the last Stone child did not finish the bike riding task until about a month ago. There is a reason that it took many years (and a completely different parent) to get those last 2 kids up on two wheels, but that is a completely different blog post for another day.

This is the story of how my oldest learned to ride a bike. The almost youngest (she is older than her brother by one whole minute) picked up riding the easiest. Twenty minutes in the church parking lot and she was good to go, with just a little help to push off. By the next day she could do that by herself too. I thought this is going to be so easy. I'd obviously completely forgotten that potty training and shoe tying for the oldest one took three times as long as it took with the other kids. As I ran alongside and pushed him off and watched him fall or jump off over and over again, I could see in his eyes, feelings I have often felt at the bottom of the hill. I knew I couldn't. I knew I couldn't. Then inspiration hit me. I told him to say these words out loud "I can do it. I can do it." When he wobbled and wanted to stop, I held him up and he said "I can do it. I can do it."  Eventually I could let go and off he went. Each time he started from a stopped position, I could hear him say "I can do it." By the end of the day he could stop, start, turn, and peddle all by himself. No longer did he need to tell himself he could do it, because he knew he could.

Two years ago I started this post and never finished it. It sat unpublished in my list. Occasionally I'd look at it when I didn't think I had anything to say for the week. I'd read through what I had written and then put it away for another day. It wasn't until this weekend that I actually figured out what I needed to learn from this little incident. I've had lots of super fun hobbies that I've picked up and put down as I've gotten busy with other things and bored with others. I've quilted and sewn, and dabbled a little bit in family history. I've attempted scrapbooking and other craftiness, and learned to cook a bunch of things from scratch.

Through it all there has always been a story to tell. In an attempt to get better at this writing thing, I've been attending a great writer's conference for the last few years. I've met friends, and attended classes, and learned from published authors, agents, and editors. I've worked hard at being brave and trying new things and generally discovering what I really want to do with this. Last weekend I spent some time with friends from an past unsuccessfully tried critique group. I had been wanting to stretch myself a little bit lot, so together we formed a new group. This one to look at whole manuscripts. Luckily everyone else is farther along than me, so I got to be last in the rotation.

I've started more than a few books/stories and had ideas for a few more, but the furthest I've ever gotten was about 65 pages written. After I got home I realized that instead of the year I thought I had, I've only got nine months to finish my first entire book. That's only 174 days to write around 80,000 words. The task sounded overwhelming. And within five minutes, I was at the bottom of the hill saying what I have said so many times before, "I know I can't. I know I can't." That was when I remembered "Z" and his bike. Many times my kids set wonderful examples for me, but I also want to set an example for them. That I can make a goal, follow through and accomplish it. So I broke that huge impossible sounding number of 80,000 down into a daily task of about 500 words. That may still seem like a lot but this post currently sits at over 900 words (and I'm still typing).

So in the spirit of Zachary I will say "I can do this!" from now on. I will show my kids that I don't just preach but I follow through on the hard things too. And almost exactly nine months from today I will have a draft of my first book finished. Even if it's horrible and needs to be severely edited, it will at least be complete. And that alone is a very big accomplishment.