small victories

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Do you ever have some little victory that you want to share but don't really have anyone in your life who would appreciate the significance of it?

This morning two of my routines clashed with each other but instead of having a miserable day because of it, I managed to compromise and felt really proud of that. But it seems so small when I think of telling the story to anyone. So I'm going to share it here in the hopes that someone else will think it's cool and give me a virtual high five.

Today was a running day but it was also raining (I'll run in the rain, no big deal). But rain means that it was a day when I should drive my husband to the train station (because I like to do something nice for him, not because I have to). I was a little upset because driving him to train station would mean I couldn't go run immediately on getting up, which is what I always do on running days. I felt myself getting cranky and agitated until I realized that I could do something for thirty minutes while he finished getting ready for work, drive him to the station and then come home and run. Which I did. By the time I got back home and changed, the rain had mostly let up so it actually turned out better that way.

I was really proud of my flexible thinking and my ability to adjust my routine. Instead of having a rotten morning as a result of either not running or not driving my husband, I made a small change and did both and had a great morning!

Anyone else got something they're proud of and want to share? Maybe this could be the celebrating our small victories thread.

*virtual high-five*

Breaking my routine always feels wrong for me too.

I have few victories in life and have no one to share them with on a regular basis-its rough-I have been supportive of others and helped when needed and always there but no one is around when I need a person and I do not ask for help very much because the answer for help is no 99.9999 percent of the time sorry to say. This is a rough life.

Lucywlf - *high five* back at ya

Radiofixr - It can be rough, yeah. It was kinda discouraging to think that the highlight of my day was making a decision that few people would even consider worth noting and most adults wouldn't have struggled in the least with.

Good for you!

I just wish to say I very much relate to this... Really cool to read how you managed to deal with the disruption of your routines.

I, too, have known lots and lots of little victories in my life, which my age peers would just laugh at because they could already do that for years or it was otherwise no big deal. I have trouble digging up good example, though, because they really do all seem mundane if I type them up here on the forum.

Okay, I have one here: it's about travel, in general. Not travel to far countries, but just beginning with travel in my home city itself.

I used to be very afraid of getting out of the house at age 16-17, especially because I had just moved to a new, big city. The second largest city of the Netherlands. I used to only travel to my favourite comic book store and to the central library, and I'd always travel with my mother. It was pretty much a straight road from our house to the comic book store, although it did take some time on foot.
At one point, I decided I felt it was getting embarrassing to travel with my mother, so I decided to go alone, to the store and to the library, and I succeeded. Victory number one!
I learned there were other places I really wanted to go to. But the problem was, my 'world', or rather, my range and the roads I knew were pretty much limited to house-comic store-library, and all the shops that were on that road. Everything else was a big, scary blind spot. And remember I was still 18. And those other places with their interesting stuff going on, were still beckoning.
So, I just grabbed the Yellow Pages, and made myself directions for how to travel to the addresses. Sound simple and mundane enough? But for me it was an adventure! I was travelling along roads I had not seen before, saw buildings I did not know. For me, it was akin to finding the New World after sailing the Atlantic, or crossing the Amazon jungle for the first time. Ifrankly had a blast, although I also felt nervous. Victory number 2!
Taking those roads again and again made them more familiar to me, I integrated them into my system. Slowly but surely, a network was established in my head, encompassing some of the more important veins on the map of my city, and all connecting my favourite spots to go. Slowly but surely, I came to know my own home town. Victory number three.
But fun is not just to be had in my hometown. Oh, no, my hometown doesn't even have a museum of natural history. And being the dinosaur fanatic I was, I needed to see actual dinosaur skeletons on display at least once in my life. So, I decided to go to Leiden, per train. With my mother.
We had a blast, but there was this nagging feeling that I should by now be able to travel such a distance and immerse myself in a strange and unknown city all by my lonesome. There was still more to be seen and done. There was Sea Life, the big public aquarium. And Sea Life was all the way down in The Hague. And I wanted to see it, without my mother. So I jumped on the train by myself for the first time in my life, and went to The Hague. Walked an unknown city's streets without a companion. And was very excited to do so. Sea Life didn't impress me all that much, but what did impress me was the actual sea, the North Sea, which is visible from The Hague/Scheveningen. It was not the first time I saw the sea, but because the first time I saw it was when I was about 2 years old, I had already forgotten it, it sure felt like the first time. Victory number four. I was 22 years old at this point.
Later that same year, lots of stress was building in my personal life. I felt bad about my failure to acquire a good education, an enjoyable job, a circle of friends. I decided my life was a failure, and all I wanted to was run away from it. And that's exactly what I did. I jumped on the train that was headed for... (drum roll) Berlin, Germany! I was actually considering settling down in Berlin on the fly, and building a life there. The travel to Berlin took 6 hours per train. Having arrived there, I was overcome by massive feelings of pure awe. It was winter, it was snowing, and the Reichstag was standing mighty across from the central train station, a building of a size I had not seen before. Everything about the city was majestic to my eyes, right up to the Brandenburger Tor and its inner statues of, among others, the godess Athena, and the Siegessäule standing on the largest roundabout I had ever seen. I absolutely loved Berlin, but my misery had left me by staying in that city, and I decided to return home with what little money I had to afford the train ticket back to Amsterdam. Travelling to Berlin and seeing it, to me, was yet another victory.

Maybe for other people, none of the above is a big deal, but to me it was, from the angle of expanding my boundaries literally and figuratively. It's made me braver and a bit more independent.

Sorry for the lengthy post. I got a little bit carried away there.

BTDT - Thanks!

CyclopsSummers - I loved your long story. It's cool to see how your world expanded little by little. I recently moved to a new city and for the first week, I made my husband drive me everywhere because I was so overwhelmed and confused by trying to learn where things were and how the streets fit together so I totally get what you mean about that fear of venturing out alone.

Congrats!

Thanks!