Or Lack Thereof

Welcome to my blog. Do you like it? I hope so, because it cost A LOT. No, not in currency, but in the aging process. In thirty-six hours, this baby took about four years off my life.

A few days ago, I started what was supposed to be the easy process of developing a blog/website. WordPress has a user-friendly guide. Fellow writers were generous with answers to my questions. A nice man in the Philippines even gave me permission to use his photos. (Not the pinecone.) Yet it still turned out to be one of the most agonizing experiences of recent months. I’m not even sure I can explain why, but maybe the following will shed some light on my emotional state during the process:

• I consumed ¾ of a rum cake in under two hours.
• I channeled a vicious beast that knew every foul word ever created by man.
• I progressed from cursing to whining, then crying, then retching.
• I considered taking the codeine that’s been in my medicine cabinet since my C-section eleven years ago.
• My husband called my mother for advice.

What could cause this? Maybe it’s the fact that it took me four attempts to set up a standard “Contact Me” page or that I ended up with seven “Bio” pages when I thought I’d only created one. Perhaps it’s not knowing what CSS is, and not really wanting to find out. Whatever the reason, the nightmare taught me a great truth:

Web design is not my God-given talent.

Now don’t say, “Oh, she just doesn’t want to work at it.” I’m not afraid of work. All talents must be honed, and that’s not accomplished overnight. I’m a writer. It’s a continual learning process. There are days when the magic flows through my fingers, and then there are the times when I struggle with one paragraph. But when I step away from my efforts, I feel a great sense of accomplishment. I’m fired up. I don’t feel like I’ve just escaped a Turkish prison (see web design).

We’ve all been blessed with talents. Embrace yours. Use every one of them. Then hire someone to handle the rest. And don’t feel guilty about it. Look at it this way – you’re encouraging their growth and helping the economy.

Copyright © 2011 Chris Campillo. All Rights Reserved.