Blog Boggled: Judicious Juggling

           The header of my blog page describes this blog author as a "juggler of words and phrases".  When I first opened my Google Blogger account I needed to come up with a name for my blog.  I felt that this name should be personally significant and tell something about who I am and what I want to do.  Who am I?  What is the purpose of this blog?

           After mulling over my life to that point, I concluded that one of the more unique things about me is that I am a juggler.  I came from a family of jugglers and I spent many years on the road working as a juggler.  By juggling standards I am certainly not a great juggler, but I am an adequate juggler of objects and a proficient juggler of life.

           A juggler of objects must know his limitations--he should not try to put more objects in the air than he can control.  To advance to a greater skill level the juggler of objects must practice until he attains the ability and the confidence to keep all of the objects in the air without dropping.  The judicious juggler of objects must be ready to set aside time for practicing his skill until his proficiency level allows him to advance to the next achievement in his juggling career.

          My juggling career was balanced by my role as a manager, a husband, a father, and the other roles that I had in my life.  When I traveled with the touring stage production I was wearing many hats.   My responsibilities were to my job, my family, and myself.  Just as the juggler of objects must focus on balance in what he is doing, the life juggler must create a balance in all of his activities and relationships in order to keep life going life as it should.

           In my Blogging From A to Z April Challenge I tossed it out to you.  When you accepted the Challenge you also added to your own personal juggling act.  Most of you are already juggling families, relationships, jobs, hobbies--all of those people and activities in your life to which you feel obligated.  For some of you who were blogging most days already, the Challenge is a piece of cake.  While others have judiciously accepted the Challenge to increase your writng skill level or to provide the motivation to do what you know you should be doing, which is writing.

        Whether you think of yourself as a writer or not, this Challenge provides discipline.  Like the juggler who practices for hours in order to add more feats to his skill and to be able to keep more objects in the air, you the blogger are polishing and perfecting your blogging skill to become better at the blogging craft.  Completing the challenge will not only make you a better blogger, it will make you a better person.  We are all made better after successfully completing a task.

          Even the act of trying makes us better.  Having tried is better than wishing we had.  Life is filled with regrets and the judicious juggler should avoid adding any more.  You who are in the Challenge accepted the dare and we all commend you for that.  Sure, sometimes life gets in the way and we can't finish everything.  You know your strengths and limitations.  If you have to lag behind or even drop out that is up to you, but I encourage you to try.  If you really want to do this, you can.  I know you can!  And I really commend and honor all of those who are hanging in there and seeing this to the end.  When you have finished you will pat yourself on the back and be ready to step up to the next challenge in your life.  You are the Judicious Jugglers.

And now to recognize some of those bright, hard-working talents that are still hanging in there:

Box o' Whine -- Poor thing.  She was having problems with her comments but never gave up.  The problem is now fixed and you can now leave comments.  So if you went to her site in the past and didn't return because you couldn't leave a comment, please go back and try it again. 

Cathy's Capers -- Cathy has been with us from the start and still going strong.  Check out her blonde and Irish jokes for "J" Day.

Fatherhood and Other Common Terrors -- Will Burke is one of our male participants and his blog title says most of it, but he also manages to fit in some philosophy now and then.

Lady Jayne's Pillow Book -- Lady Jayne is keeping right up with all of us with quite a mix of topics.

Melody's Musings -- Melody Green has a nice writing style and asks interesting questions.

Raquel Byrnes -- Raquel Byrnes is a writer--you can tell that when you read her blog.  She is also a commenter-- you see her comments all over the place.

Third Times a Charm -- Trudy is another sweetheart of a commenter.  She's keeping up with the posts even though she's got a baby coming very soon.

Wasabi Mommy --  this Mommy is another one whose comments are starting to be seen with great frequency.   According to her, she blogs to express not impress.  Well, I'm impressed by the way she expresses.

Voiceover -- The Voice has a lot to share with all of us.  This Voice is an inspiration and will brighten your day.

Reader Person --  This young student is, like the name her blog implies, a person who reads a lot. She offers her reviews on books.  She entered into the challenge late and has been trying to catch up.  Also, Spring break has ended so she'll be starting back to school this week.  Stop by and give her some encouragement.

Confesssions of a Watery Tart -- Hart Johnson offers up a slick bit of blog work on her site with a lot to offer.  She usually has something of particular interest for the ladies, but I can certainly appreciate her fine writing.

As I always say, give these fine bloggers a visit and a hello.  Won't hurt to follow them as well--I know they'd appreciate it.