I am a great believer in saying yes. Yes to travel. Yes to fun. Yes to whatever comes up.

But, as my dear,  and very wise friend, Sharon Brown once pointed out, “Just because it’s a good idea…doesn’t mean you have to do it.”

At the time, that was a wholly revolutionary thought. It had never really occurred to me in any concrete way. I remember that I’d been whining about a flurry of press trips invitations and didn’t want to say no to any of them. They all sounded great. And yes, I know it’s hard to get any sympathy about this dilemma unless you’re whining to other travel writers.

Travel writers are kind of like junkies. We love the thrill of the promise and hit of the next trip. But then the 3 am flights and the PR people from heck and the endless tours of hotel properties start to blur and wear and we end up all thinking the same thought…what the hell was I thinking when I decided THIS would be a good idea?

And yet. I keep doing it. Leaping in and agreeing to things that turn out to be not such great ideas; like the current project I have taken on. I will not get into specifics here, except to say that the project itself involves a ton of detail work and is taking w-a-a-a-a-y longer than I thought it would.

And let it be known that I like to think of myself as more of an “ideas” person (see The Castle video above) not so much a detail person. But I am also persistent and obsessive and right now those are the only qualities that are helping me. Because I am so clearly NOT having any fun with this.

But you know what? When it’s all done, I’ll be so pleased and proud that I scaled this marathon of a project. So, if you see me and I get all righteous about how it’s good to have self-discipline and see things through and all those Puritanical work-ethic cliches?

Just slap me.