Daily tasks

” A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules” — Anthony Trollope

It’s a rainy, stormy Saturday and I feel like a stuck chair that needs a bit of WD-40 to get it to unfold and properly work. I love the rain and I love thunderstorms, in general. As my dear Kolya once said “It’s difficult to imagine not feeling more alive than wanting to run and dance in a thunderstorm.” Granted his dancing was more akin to running up and down on pavements and garden walls. Being physical is the term I believe.  No, I love a thunderstorm as much as he does yet these days an approaching storm makes me so achy and sore. Is it possible to feel this way at 35? Where was the time when I used to run out and dance and spin? When I felt the warm rain drench my face and clothes? 
Physical ailment aside, and back to Mr. Trollope’s instruction, I began contemplating rule number two of my personal rules: I will strive to work and act diligently on a daily basis. My foray into the honor project has made me contemplate this as well as the upcoming pensive season of Lent.
Pondering this, I thought of Kolya again. He has often told me success needs to be counted daily. Small tasks where he can see results. If you take on a mammoth project and don’t designate smaller attainable tasks, and you only feel frustrated and quit. Yet if you set a straight, small task ( for him it is writing 500 words a day or so much code) you are more likely.
I know, I know. It sounds so simple. It seems simple. But it isn’t simple. At least for me it isn’t. I imagine for others it isn’t either.
I need to task this thought into all areas of my life – home, work, creative work, family, my spiritual journey. I need to take those small daily steps, and celebrate them. That means eating that little bit of chocolate after I’ve mucked up and then cleaned up the kitchen. I am trying this with some measured results in housework and gardening. I wish I could apply it more with writing and my spiritual walk. As the rain and aches have kept me away from helping with preparing for a youth fundraiser, I’m quite mindful of how much more dedicated I could be if I really took myself to task.
I am stepping slowly, bit by bit, even if I sometimes take two steps back to get better at this journey.