#LastMan : Failed too soon.

Failure came all too soon:  around 6:15 or so this morning and email popped up on my phone with the headline announcing the win in overtime.  DAMN!  Not only was this a subscription email (which I should have unsubscribed to long ago) that I wasn't going to read in the first place, it had destroyed my plans.  (FYI:  I was so annoyed that I immediately went and unsubscribed from the mailing list.)

Now 6:15 may seem like an early failure, and it is, but I had been up since 4 and doing my best to avoid any mention of the game.  As a matter of fact, I did my best to avoid the whole thing yesterday. By 6 o'clock when my husband turned on Fox to start watching, I made a hasty retreat upstairs and watched some episodes of The Big Bang Theory with our son.  (This is one of our favorite pastimes and deserving of its own blog post in the future.)  When I did scurry downstairs to the kitchen, I made sure to avert my eyes from the TV.  I didn't want to know ANYTHING about the game.

While the rest of the world might have been watching the game, I was tucked in bed watching Casablanca on TCM.  

This morning when I woke up I had a plan in place for the day.  I usual get up and do exercises with the news on.  Not today.  I had a DVD work out and when I did switch over to the news I made sure to ignore the scroll at the bottom of the screen.  I kept switching away from the news any time there was any chance that sports was going to come up.

My plan for the morning was to avoid CBS This Morning, which is usually a must for me.  Heading to work, I would have no news, only music.  At the office if there was any talk of the game, I would put on my headphones or walk away from the conversation.  I was planning on actively NOT listening.  My weekly status call with management was going to be a challenge, but I planned for it. When talk came up, I would speak up and say I was trying to avoid the news as a part of the #LastMan challenge.  Don't know how well that would go over with my boss and the CEO of the corporation, but I was willing to give it a try.  I figured this would be my biggest hurdle and if I could make it past 10:30, I would have done myself proud.

But sadly that is not to be.  The challenge is over and I folded fast.  There is always next year of course.  With this in mind, I am wondering if I should challenge myself to try to avoid all football news (not very hard in my household) and not know who is going to the Super Bowl.  (How long will that last).  And then give the #LastMan challenge another go.  It's certainly worth a try.

With #LastMan down, I have a new challenge/cause.  #DeVosBlackOut.  I'm wearing my black today to show my opposition for the confirmation of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.  As the parent of a "normal" child, I feel that Ms. DeVos is grossly under qualified for the position and I'm sure I would feel even stronger if I had a child with special needs.  The only good thing that I think has come out of her potential appointment is that a high school student in my town led a PEACEFUL protest over the weekend.  Students, parents, educators, concerned citizens came together.  Now that is an education.  (More so than any common core exam in my opinion.)  I have already contacted my representatives (who also oppose) and I hope that others around the country will continue to do so as well.  Another example of history in motion; citizens making their voices heard and letting their Representatives know what they expect.  If she is confirmed (as predicted by CNN, with a tie breaking vote by the Vice President), it will be a sad day for education as a whole, but hopefully will be used as a "teaching moment."  That citizens can and SHOULD call/write/email their representatives to let them know where they stand on policies and to express their pleasure or displeasure with their representatives actions with their VOTE.  

Whatever your challenge may is, be it "silly" like the #LastMan or "serious" like #DeVosBlackOut, take it up and do your best.  Failure only truly comes when we don't try at all.