Day 18: Lessons Learned

I'm now safely past the halfway point of NaBloPoMo, which means that November is more than halfway over, which means it is now LESS THAN A MONTH until I return to the U.S....after a full year away....for the holidays.

It has been a gruelling, gruelling month. I've been working ridiculously hard and putting in some crazy hours. But...things are coming together so well. The children are thriving, and the curriculum is turning out even better than I had expected. In many ways, while my work situation is far from perfect (but, really, show me one that IS...), this is the most professionally fulfilled I've ever felt.

So....I'll be honest: I've put forth many a groan at the thought of having to sit down in front of my laptop and attempt to be eloquent at the end of a long day. But....I've made the time to blog each and every day, and I've learned some pretty awesome things along the way:

1.) There is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS time to write.

2.) Writing is something that is becoming more important to me than just a hobby or some sort of cathartic outlet.

3.) No matter how exhausted I am, and no matter how much I hate getting started sometimes, I always feel a bit of a high after writing (any writing at all: blogging, e-mailing, journaling, writing poetry, etc.).

4.) I am going to write a book. Not because I necessarily want to get it published, or even share it with anyone else. I just want to see if it's something I can do. I want to be able to tell myself that I once wrote a book, even if no one else ever reads a single page of it. It's my Everest*, minus the fanfare and shameless publicity.

5.) I have some wonderful ideas for posts for the next 10+ days, so stay tuned!!

I just finished reading the book INTO THIN AIR (omg...amazing), about the Everest disaster in 1996. Let me tell ya: there are many things in my life that I would love to try to do, and many goals that I would like to achieve. Climbing Everest? NO THANK YOU.