Yup. Bilbo Baggins. Arguably one of the BEST characters ever written, in what is, in my opinion, one of the best books ever written. I refer, of course, to The Hobbit. He’s a pivotal character in subsequent books, but I am partial to him in this one.
I love Bilbo. He’s small and just a bit fat. He loves to eat, sleep, and read books. He bakes. He tends his garden and he always carries a pocket handkerchief. He’s civilized and doesn’t like to be uncomfortable. He’s not into adventures. Until Gandalf comes along and spoils it all.
Yeah, o.k., Gandalf knew he just needed a push to get up and out and become more than he’d ever considered possible. In the end, Bilbo was wealthy, respected and proud of who he had become. It’s a fantastic story that I read over and over again.
I really identify with Bilbo. As certain readers of this blog can testify to, I’m small, a bit dumpy, I love to eat, read and sleep. I bake, I HATE to be uncomfortable. Thank God I was never a pioneer. Who could live without indoor plumbing? ..Deoderant? ..Chocolate? Well, not me.
There are several analogies I could draw between myself and Bilbo and I may, in all likelihood, return to that particualr theme in future posts. The thing I wanted to share with you kindly forebearing folks was what I like to call ” The Bilbo Baggins Speech”.
This refers to the self-talk he does on his way to see the dragon Smaug for the first time. I say this speech whenever I’m about to face something I really need courage for. …Like on my way to the dentist’s chair, or trying something new, i.e. Mary Kay…or blogging. This is my condensed version of it:
(thinking) “Now you’re in for it at last, Bilbo Baggins. Why are you here? You’ve no use for dragon treasures….Feel the worm’s heat, Mr. Baggins? A few more steps and you shall see the old dragon Smaug at last……You can still turn back you know..but to go on, to take those few steps, that would be the bravest of ALL moments. Whatever happens afterwards is nothing. ….Yes, here is where you fight your real battle, Mr. Bilbo Baggins. ……Do you turn back?” (aloud) “NO!”
Then he goes forward and meets Smaug. I’m sure most of you are familiar with this story or, if not, then at least familiar with the Lord of the Rings movies, so it’s no spoiler to tell you he lives and is made fabulously wealthy with some of the dragon’s treasures.
This has been a hard week for me. I’ve been putting off writing this because it’s the 18th and I still only have 3 challenge takers this month. And none of them has been able to sell anything. I knew when I started this program and this blog that there would be days and weeks and months like this, I just didn’t realize how hard it would be to write about them. I was obviously harboring secret hopes that it would be all lemon drops and milkshakes from now on. Failure and blog posts has been my Smaug.
Well, part of this process is learning and over-coming difficulties. Besides, how could I help anyone struggling with belief in themselves when I had no hardships to deal with? And this week has actually brought me some success. Because I’ve been talking to people more, I’ve gained new customers and I have not one, but two appointments for Saturday morning brush clinic . I know that probably sounds lame, but if you knew how anemic my appointment schedule has been, you’d know why that’s exciting.
I’ve also had the opportunity to share this challenge idea with other Mary Kay consultants who’ve been struggling like me and they seem very excited about the whole thing. I’ve been able to e-mail them the documents they need and tell them how I’ve set mine up. I’m hopeful that if I can’t make this work, perhaps it will work for them, in which case, it’s still a success. …But I still believe it’ll work for me. Do I turn back?……..NO!
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