Lifehacker had a fantastic article that we just used with one of the kids to help them make a decision.  It’s the two questions you need to be able to answer affirmatively to find out if you’re ready to grow.  Because I think everyone would answer that they’d like to be the prettiest flower in the garden; tall, vibrant, noticed.  But not everyone wants to go through the pain of becoming that flower — the uncertainty of the seed sprouting, the long days waiting for water, the pruning.

Growth is painful.  It takes time.  It takes energy.  And there’s nothing wrong with taking a good, hard look at the goal and saying, “not ready right now to put in the work.”

The two questions:

1. Do you want to do better? (We changed this to “do you want the achievement?”)
2. Are you willing to feel uncomfortable or frustrated or disappointed as you do the work to reach your goal?

I think we get so bogged down looking at the goal and focusing on the goal that our eye glosses over everything that lies in the path between here and there.  This part of the article rang true:

Bregman is saying to confront what it means to do something new first and ask yourself if you’re really willing to do it. Saying yes is no guarantee you will succeed, of course, but in the tough moments you can remember that you believed it was worth it. Then push through.

Stating something’s worth can make the difference between pushing forward or stopping the work.

So what do you want to do better?  And what are you willing to feel frustration over?

I love rocky, barren islands.  I’m okay with patches of grass and a few spindly trees, but you know that scene in the first Harry Potter movie where the family goes to hide out in the ramshackle island house so the Hogwarts letters can’t find them?  THAT would be like my ideal vacation home space.  A close second would be Vardø, Norway.

Listen to this description:

Once the cod capital of the Arctic, Vardø, population 1,875, perches like a fish-scented mirage on the edge of the Arctic Circle in Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county. While the Visit Vardø website makes the town look like Williamsburg with puffins and Aurora Borealis, it isn’t. There are only four ways to Vardø — none are good, and all originate at Kirkenes, a shithole in the way that only towns that are waystations to other places can be.

Heaven.

It’s Wolf Island.  It is known for its snowball fights.  (Wait, scratch that, I don’t like snowball fights.)  They have puffins!  It’s light almost 24 hours per day in the summer.  (Which I know means that it’s dark almost 24 hours per day in the winter.)

The kids will be sad that they turned down my request for Newfoundland because they left the door open and now my heart is set on Vardø.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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On the heels of the “Finnish don’t do small talk” article comes another one summing up an entire country in a single statement: The French don’t show excitement.  I’m going to call bullshit on this one, BBC, because the twins have a fantastic French teacher who is dynamic and passionate.

When she is speaking about something that excites her, you can see — clearly — that she is excited.  She makes the kids excited about the language.  They come home speaking about French culture just as often as they come home speaking in French.  I would even go so far as to describe her as exuberant.  Ebullient.  She fizzes with happiness for France and teaching French.

So while you may not be able to express this in French doesn’t mean that excitement does not exist in France.  After all, we have dozens of types of snow, even though English only has one word for snow, unlike the Inuit’s 50+.

I’m thinking the BBC may be stretching with this series.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

I received a Google Home at a conference.  It currently lives — unplugged — in a closet.  I am aware that it can only do its job, providing me with billions of facts in seconds, if I attach it to an outlet.  That is not going to happen.

I have no problem with my current level of convenience.  I have a machine that will wash my dishes if I place them inside.  A machine that washes and dries my clothes.  I even have a tiny machine that can boil a cup of water in a minute or so, helping me make tea.  All of these machines require a human present for at least one step.  I see zero reason to gain something new to manage just to have the ability to set something to run from afar.

Part of it is privacy concerns.  Part of it is just not wanting one more thing to think about.  Articles like that highlight the fact that home-based machines are still a far-cry from Jetson levels of convenience.  Though it’s interesting that George Jetson never wondered aloud to Jane about the vast quantities of data their futuristic home was sending along to massive corporations…

I don’t want a smart home.  Though I feel like I keep getting nudged in that direction whenever we need to replace an object.  Why won’t the companies allow me to live a simple life?  And why won’t the damn kids stop playing on my lawn?

Do you have smart products in your home?

I am gently easing myself back into my schedule, by which I mean that I am kicking and screaming about returning to normal life.  I don’t do well with breaks.  I love them, but re-entry is hard.  My skull feels like it has been stuffed with cotton balls.  I am distracted.  I want to crawl back into bed and read my vampire book.  (Discovery of Witches… it feels a little bit like Twilight.)

The one thing I do love is my new 15 minute ritual.  I’ve been using it to read Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat.  I bought this book a year ago, and I’ve read the first 20 pages or so several times.  But this time I’m going to plow my way through to the end.  I’m going to emerge out the other side a calmer, focused person.  I think.  If not, it’s on to the next book.

How are you doing with re-entry?

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Stop procrastinating.  Go make your backups.  Don’t have regrets.

Seriously.  Stop what you’re doing for a moment.  It will take you fifteen minutes, tops.  But you will have peace of mind for days and days.  It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Becoming a Chester” (video)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Road Less Travelled has a year-end review post.  A few people created one this week, and I love these look-backs on the year.  She pulled out her favourite/noteworthy posts and put them together in a roundup.  Everyone who writes a blog has a few best posts from the year.  What are yours?  P.S. I wish we still did the Creme.

Searching for Our Silver Lining has a post about tafoni.  First and foremost, I love this line: “I found myself becoming more of an observant of life instead of a participant.”  It’s a post about looking for signs from the universe and thinking ahead on the upcoming year.

Lastly, Too Many Fish to Fry has a post about the dangers of authenticity.  She explains, “But, getting validation simply for expressing hardships can be a bad thing. This post sums up an interesting technique the author has noticed certain writers use — it’s called the ‘failure formula’.”  She’s making a distinction where authenticity is tied to complaining or expressing something negative (though you can be completely authentic and expressing the positive if you happen to be an optimistic person).  It’s an interesting take on venting.

The roundup to the Roundup: Back to the daily grind.  Your weekly backup nudge.  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between December 21st and January 4th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.