To say that the struggle has been real these past few months would definitely be the understatement of the year. And to add to the struggle of a pandemic, kids being home- all day, everyday, working and homeschooling I decide to join the #mjconsistencychallenge and commit to blog every weekday for a month.

Listen…I know.

And when I tell you I was this close to quitting…

I’ve been flooded the last few weeks with so many different emotions. I’ve found myself saying, “I’m so happy that I did this challenge” and “why in the world did I do this challenge?” almost in the same breath.

I’m totally exhausted, and yet I’ve learned so much. I feel like I have so much catching up to do, and yet I’m so grateful. I’ll be glad when it’s over, but sad to see it go. I’m excited, and I’m overwhelmed…all at the same time.

But I had to constantly remind myself that this is a “consistency” challenge, and quitting would defeat the entire purpose. The bottom line is I’m tired of quitting; even when I feel like I have a legitimate reason.

Detox Your Soul: Pulling the Plug on Toxic Behavior

So how do you fight the urge to quit?

• Remind yourself why you started. If you go into a project because it’s trending, it will be short-lived. But if you’re truly passionate about what you’ve started, you have to remind yourself of the end-goal.
• Adjust your schedule accordingly. You have to keep your expectations realistic. When I joined this challenge, I had to change my entire schedule in order to accommodate the time it takes for researching, writing and shooting content. There was no way that I could do it on my previous schedule, and if I didn’t make changes, it just wasn’t going to happen.
• Change your “want to” to “have to”. Stop giving yourself a way out. Of all the times I wanted to quit, I feel like 85% of my reasons were justifiable, but I refused to allow myself to give in to them.
• Find an accountability partner. I literally could not have made it this far without the hubs (cue Marvin Sapp’s “Never Would Have Made It”). We made a pact that we would finish this together, and it’s definitely taken the two of us. While I was adjusting my schedule, he was adjusting his, and we’ve done what was necessary to make it happen.
• Celebrate your small victories. Have you ever heard of, “thanking God for the 30-fold”? Yep, full-blown church girl, right here. Take a moment to observe your mini-milestones. At the end of my first week of this challenge, I was shouting like it was the last week, and that shout helped me get through the next week.

I’m in way too deep, and I’ve got too much skin-in-the-game to quit now.

I already know what giving up feels like. I want to see what happens if I don’t.

-Neila Rey

Until next time…

mjr.