The 100 Day Project: cultivating joy in a life that needs grit

In last week’s Sunday email, I shared that I have been going through life with a lot of determination but lacking some of my usual enthusiasm. The Christian life is represented as a battle but Jesus also promises us joy. We don’t have to stay in the camp of only one: balance in all things.

My word for this year is “warrior.” I want to think about the fact that we are in a battle, that the first woman’s defining word “ezer” is a battle word, that we are called to put on the armor of God before walking into life.  But I want to live with joy in the midst of that (John 15:11, 16:33, Philippians 4:4, 1 John 1:4).

The 100 Day Project starts tomorrow and I’ve been contemplating what to do for almost a month. I participated last year with an Instagram series on motherhood that I still occasionally post to. This year I’m going to do another social media project, just one that’s much more outside of my comfort zone.

This year I’m going to do a series of Facebook lives on weekday mornings. Can I just admit that makes me really uncomfortable? I haven’t done Facebook lives regularly since before Luke was born and I had to work myself up for them then.

This idea popped into my head a few weeks ago (let’s be clear, I’d been praying about it so that’s probably not the best expression) and I haven’t been able to shake it. I wanted three things with the project (and if you want to participate, maybe consider these guidelines as you dig through topics?).

1. I want to push myself out of my comfort zone. Doing Facebook lives makes me uncomfortable for several reasons, not the least being that my friends on Facebook can see it. I’ve also struggled with wanting to say nothing in order to avoid saying something “wrong.” What if I say something stupid or that someone disagrees with or something that even I disagree with? Probably all of this will happen actually. And I- and the world- will survive.
2. I want to sharpen a few skills. For this project, I’m specifically looking at comfort level on camera and speaking skills. I speak on the podcast all the time but it’s conversation style, not by myself. I’m hoping to see a dramatic difference in these live videos over the 100 days (granted, I’m *cheating* a tad by taking the weekends off).
3. I want to start getting up earlier. Luke is finally sleeping a little better at night and I’d like to start tackling my morning routine again. Before I got pregnant with Luke I was getting up and working before my boys were awake. This will be great motivation to actually get up and get moving.

I’ve started a (large) list of topics to cover and I’m excited to discuss some of the things I’m learning and how I’m developing grit in my daily life and how I’m cultivating joy in the midst of a life that needs grit.

My goal is to be live between 7:15-7:20 tomorrow morning. My favorite thing about Facebook lives? You can go back and watch them whenever. I’d love for you to join me and converse with me in the comments but even if no one watches any of them, I’m still going to do this project. My motivation isn’t eyes; it’s practice.