E IS FOR ELEPHANT - Eating an Elephant, One Bite at a Time.

We have all come across this tired old saying. How do you eat an elephant, one bite at a time, yeah yeah. It was a stock trope of management courses in the eighties, and somehow it's still endured, for all these years. I believe Bishop Desmond Tutu was the one who first said it. 

But old sayings persist because they contain a kernel of truth, and in the eating of an elephant, just one bite at a time, we can arrive at something that really is fundamental to all human endeavour, and that's persistence. Without it, nothing gets done, or nothing big, anyway. And it's the big things that make us so happy when we've achieved them. I still remember my joy when I was accepted into Law School, but that was nothing, nothing at all, compared to how I felt at the graduation ceremony. And I did that one twenty minute study sprint at a time. 

So, fast forward to this year. Last Christmas, on  Christmas Day, I started learning Italian. I've worked at it every day, sometimes for hours, sometimes for just a few minutes, but the thing is I haven't missed a day. And a week short of the year, I'm now coming to terms with the subjunctive. I've read a few short stories. Sure, I'd have done better if I'd had the opportunity to hang out with Italian speakers on a regular basis. My practice has been limited to my husband and the man at the bakery whom I see perhaps once a week for a few minutes. But still, I'm happy with the achievement. By the time another year has passed, I hope to be able to watch television in it.

So, you ask, what other elephants are to be eaten? Well, for me there are a couple. I've been trying and failing for years to quit smoking. That's one. The other is that my lifestyle has gone from very active to almost completely sedentary. First because of Covid, then there were some other factors. After Emily's death I was deeply depressed, and did almost nothing for more than a year. I was just starting to pull myself together six months ago when I injured myself,  and that's still a thing that has made me more sedentary than ever. And as a result, I have got fat.

So, I still smoke and I'm fat. Tackling both of those things at the same time, particularly in December, is generally thought of as unwise. However, I have something going for me that I never had before. Apps.  Apps are the bomb. They take away all the worry and uncertainty. And importantly, they make everything objective. You don't have to keep track of how much you've eaten, smoked, whatever, because the app does it all for you, and therefore - and this is the big thing - you're not carrying it in your mind, so you a) aren't thinking about it all the time, which always makes one want to do more of the thing one is trying not to do, and b) your mind can't play tricks and 'forget' things. So the apps are a very, very powerful weapon, and if people say I'm staring at my phone too much and getting like a Gen Z person, well tant pis, at least I'm modern.

So those are my elephants now, and I'm nibbling away. Regaining the disciplined habits of work that I lost when I lost my girl, that's another one, but I'm still floundering around with that. But the point is that I will do it, because I a) want to and b) know how.