#SmallSuccess: How Do You Count Your Wins?

Over the past several weeks I have done a lot of things, but by far the most successful thing I've done is to get out of bed, get showered and clothed and get to school or work. Depression is a constant combatant in my life.

When you see those depression medication commercials, that benign raincloud that follows people around and bugs them doesn't adequately represent what mine feels like. Mine feels like a mustard gas cloud that descends on me when I least expect it and chokes out all joy and peace anywhere in my life. I know it's there and I keep ahead of it most of the time, but some days are better than others.

But this is not a post about failure. It's about success. So how do I measure success when honoring my commitments is the best that I can do?

Commitments are made and broken all the time. And that's why it's such a success to keep them. When you make a commitment, someone is counting on you. Commitment can be as big as a marriage, but sometimes it's just a cup of coffee with a like-minded friend. But, the truth is that we never know when that cup of coffee is a life preserver tossed into an angry sea of chaos.

Success begins with commitment. Sometimes the smallest, most trivial commitments are the most important. It's in honoring those small commitments that we build the muscle to honor larger ones. And in honoring the larger ones, we become successful. Not in terms of money, but in terms of peace.

So, my successes for this week include:

1) Coffee with my friend, Sharon - who listens and empathizes like no other.
2) Making it to school for all my classes - and doing good work to prepare for them.
3) Giving my husband a kiss goodbye in the morning and actually listening when he responds to "So, how was your day?"

Your turn!  What can you count as a success this week? Drop a comment in the combox, or link your blog post up over at CatholicMom.com.  You'll be glad that you did, because nothing breeds success like success! You just have to recognize achievement when you see it.