I have a great idea for a blog post. I just don’t have the energy to write it today.
And you know what? I decided that’s okay. In fact, I decided it’s wise to wait.
What I want to write about isn’t time-sensitive. And I’m tired. So very tired. Too tired to do it justice.
Today is my first day off in, well, I’ve lost track. Delighted to have so much work, but since finishing everything yesterday I’ve done pretty much nothing. Read, watched TV, napped. Which I’m completely fine with.
I kept trying to start the post I want to write – and still will, very soon – but finally realized that I just didn’t have it in me today. So I’d never be able to write the piece I really want to write, and it’s a topic I feel strongly about.
Sure, sometimes you just have to crank things out. Like this little rumination, which keeps me true to my word of blogging three times a week.
But when you have the luxury of time — and something you’d like to savor the act of doing, rather than just doing it for the sake of completion — it’s better to wait.
So that’s what I’ll do. I’ll wait. And probably take another nap.
When I started this blog, I made myself a promise that I’d post to it three times a week. Which is a lot.
Or at least it feels like a lot to someone who already writes all day long and often into the evening.
I almost didn’t write today’s post. It’s been a big week. But then I remembered that I made a promise. Even if it’s to myself, I should keep it.
Which got me thinking about promises. I take them very seriously, but does everyone else do the same?
My work revolves around deadlines. My clients know they can count on me to hit them. Every so often, I have to beg for mercy, as I did this week. And because they know my word is good, my clients are willing to give me some leeway every once in a while. I don’t ask very often.
I look at the world around me, though, and I see plenty of people who don’t keep their promises. Writers who miss deadlines with abandon. People who swear they’ll stay in touch and don’t. Politicians who say they’ll do one thing and then do another. Companies that promise their product will deliver when it doesn’t.
I think keeping promises is important. Sure, there are times when going back on your word is unavoidable. But hopefully, you don’t take it lightly — and you make up for it somehow.
To me, it’s a sign of integrity when people keep their promises. Even the ones they make to themselves.
I didn’t actually meet Michelle Obama. But it sure felt like I did. Because her warmth and passion fill any room she’s in. And I was lucky enough to be in the same room with the First Lady.
It was a fundraising event in Detroit for President Obama’s 2012 campaign. It was a full house of enthusiastic supporters, and meeting fellow volunteers and citizens who believe in the work President and Mrs. Obama are doing for our country was electrifying.
When the First Lady was introduced, the applause and cheers must have made the ballroom’s chandeliers swing. I don’t know, because I couldn’t take my eyes off Michelle Obama. I felt so proud and grateful to be in her presence.
And then she began to talk about why she was there — why she and President Obama are so committed to the ideal of a country that includes everyone. That offers hope for everyone. That represents the chance for everyone to have an equal opportunity and for everyone to contribute to the common good.
Mrs. Obama emphasized what’s at stake in the 2012 election: A choice between two very different visions of what America is and can be. Contrasting visions of who we are and who we want to be as a country.
Like President and Mrs. Obama, I want our country to be a place where everyone can get a good education, a fulfilling job and affordable healthcare. I want our country to be a place where people are free to love who they love. A place where we’re all in this together.
Michelle Obama even shared a glimpse into her husband’s private side. How he tells her the stories he hears every day, about everyday Americans. Those stories, she said, are what keep him going.
She may be the First Lady, but Michelle Obama told us she’s in this as a citizen who knows we can work together to make this country better. That’s the kind of citizen I want to be, too.
I still hope someday I can shake Michelle Obama’s hand — and perhaps even the President’s — and say how much admiration and gratitude I have for them. Until then, I’m inspired by knowing I have something in common with our President and First Lady: I am a citizen whose efforts can make a difference to our country’s future.
Yes, Mrs. Obama, I’m in.
