One of the nuances of my juggling analogy that I didn’t really explain is the cyclical nature of it. We tend to juggle the same items over and over. We re-learn the same lessons.

Or at least I do.

“Think before you speak.” “Don’t judge.” “Have patience.” “Exercise discipline.” Every time I think I’ve got one of those under control, I realize one of the others has slipped.

That can be frustrating at times. Won’t I ever break my bad habits? Won’t these good qualities ever become second nature? But I think that’s just how life goes. We are constant works-in-progress. Like manuscripts, there is always something that could be better.

Related, here’s a quote I recently read and really liked:

“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. “

– Alfred D’Souza (taken from “Life Is Not Like a Novel, Except When It Is”)

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