Practice

It has been a rough few weeks in our household. I honestly don't know how to explain it all, nor do I think there is value in putting it out there in the world. The impacts - sadness, hopelessness, grief, anger, despair - alone are a lot to put on others. 

And that's not my goal today. My goal today is to talk about the idea of practice, and how it fits with having rough weeks. But first, I have to take you into the world of online video games. 

I play an online role-playing game, where I can play cooperatively with other players. I am in a guild (organized group), and I am in charge of leading members of that group through doing hard group content ('trials' or raids where 12 of us work together to get through a set of enemy encounters). 

If your eyes have glazed over, don't worry - I'm almost done with setting the context. Doing hard 'trials' means we often don't succeed our first time in. We 'prog' (progress through) the content, learning it together and getting (hopefully) a bit further each time. 

In this group, we often remind ourselves that 'practice makes progress'. I love this phrase. When we are in the same trial for the 5th week, this phrase reminds us to celebrate the things we have already conquered. I love that this version takes the focus from perfection, an often unattainable end goal, to growth and learning. It reminds me that end goals are guideposts, but often not what really matter. Trials are fun because I'm learning with my friends. Yes, of course, I cheer loudly when we finally clear something, but I do trials to be with this amazing group and improve our playing together. 

And this phrase applies so far beyond video games.  

Writing this blog again is practice. I missed a couple of weeks while my routine was up in the air, but that's okay. Because writing this blog isn't about being perfect - it's about practice and progress. And each time I write I feel like I'm finding my voice again and enjoying the process. 

Strengthening my body is practice. I ended up spending my training session last week crying and focusing on what my body needed to get through another stressful week instead of moving my body. And that's okay. Because this week I went in, said I needed to do something that made me feel strong, and had a glorious workout with weights and balance (and I could see so much progress from over the last few months!)

And maintaining my mental health and well-being is practice. It got knocked around this last couple weeks, and I'm under no illusion that I am fully in the clear. I am still having to be very cautious what I expose myself to in media (and social media), I am monitoring very carefully for signs of needing medical intervention, and I am taking steps to protect myself from overload. I am using the techniques I have learned from therapists and trainers and many amazing folks I have worked with. This is my lifelong practice, and when I focus on progress I can see how strong I now am, even in my weeks where I feel bruised and battered. 

The world is really rough right now. I am finding it hard to keep up hope. But, the idea of a little bit of progress is something I can believe in. So, this week my focus is on practice for the sake of progress.