I Think I Can and Knew I Could

I Think I Can and Knew I Could - June 16, 2022

The little engine that could.  Do you remember this book? It is a children’s book originally published in 1906, with variations of it as time went on. It was about a little locomotive with a huge task in front of him. He needed to haul an extremely heavy load up a mountain by himself. Now this little engine really didn’t think he could pull this heavy load up to the top of the mountain. However, he decided he would try and do it. As he went along, he kept saying “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” And as he continued on his journey, he finally reached the top of the mountain and as he sailed down the mountain side you could hear the little train singing “I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could.” I seem to remember some versions saying, “I knew I could, I knew I could, I knew I could.”

What does the little engine that could have to do with my blog today you may ask? It’s having the ability as human beings and believing in ourselves to take on tasks that seem larger than we can accomplish or dream; about doing something and thinking we can’t. If we believe it, we can manifest it / accomplish this goal.

What was one of my accomplishments? In 2019 I was encouraged to write a cookbook. My children encouraged me to put my favorite recipes into a cookbook. If someone had told me I would write a cookbook in midlife, I would have said “I don’t think so.” Anyways, I decided to take on this task and write a cookbook in the fall of 2019. As I look back now, I can hardly believe I did do it.

I started off by talking to other people who had written a book and received some great advice. I tweaked my original idea to make it a book and a cookbook. For every recipe I wanted to use it had to include a story about the recipe. This made choosing the recipes a lot more difficult, as I wanted the stories to have meaning, maybe funny, but have a good story to match up with the recipe.

I went and bought a nice journal, a couple of good pens to get started. Dedicated every Thursday evening to writing and thinking. I developed an outline and the next thing I knew; I was writing a book/cookbook. The original was all hand-written. Over the winter and into spring I had my 13 recipes and stories as well as some bonus stuff done. Now to type it into Microsoft Word, find someone who would publish my book and what did they need from me? Apply for a copyright and an ISBN number. With the help of the internet and my adult children, I was able to find my answers and figure out how to accomplish these tasks.

What else did I need? Pictures. What about pictures? I wanted a picture to accompany every recipe. Black and white or color? There is a huge price difference putting pictures into your document. The 15 pictures or so that were included in my book cost almost as much as the 500 books did. Crazy! But I wanted color pictures, so I had to buck up and pay the price for them. 

Then I found out the book had to be in PDF format. Originally the publisher said they could convert my Word document into a PDF document, and they did. However, they couldn’t keep the formatting the way it was originally. I wanted every chapter to start on a right-hand page. I needed page breaks in certain places. This was lost in the conversion from Word to PDF. Okay, now what? I had to purchase Adobe Acrobat DC and learn how to use it and convert my document into an Adobe PDF document. Finally, I had my book looking the way I wanted it to. Now for editing. Once again, I called upon my children and a close friend to edit the book. This is so important if you plan to publish an article. Errors are easy to miss when it is your own writing as you know what you are saying and can easily miss a word or two when re-reading your document. A fresh set of eyes is required.

Now the book needed a front and a back cover. Another learning curve! A new software program called CANVA helped me to accomplish the covers and my website developer helped me as well. My daughter and my husband took pictures for the biography on the back cover.

I had no idea when I started writing this book what all was going to be involved. Am I proud of myself for this accomplishment? You bet I am. I have inspired my children as well as my grandchildren to go out there and believe in yourself. If you have a dream, chase it down and make it happen for yourself. 

We can do anything we want to. And we are never too old to try new things. Is there something you have always wanted to do, but just haven’t for fear of failure? It’s better to try then to not try at all. It can be something as simple as learning to swim, taking a hike up a mountain, going for a horseback ride, skating, biking, learning to play chess, bridge, etc. Maybe you have a book you would like to write or publish your poetry that you have written over the years.

What is on your bucket list? Learn to use a computer or a cell phone. There is so much information available to us through the Internet. YouTube will show us anything we want to learn to do.

A few years ago, I bought a chainsaw so that I could cut down trees in my yard. I learned how to use it, bought protective chaps, safety glasses and good boots for my feet. However, I really am someone who shouldn’t use a chain saw. They are very dangerous even with the protective gear. And I have people who can safely use a chain saw better than myself, they just aren’t always around when I want something done. I am one of those people that likes things done now, not in 15 minutes or days later. But some tasks are better left to others I have learned.

In closing, go out there and just do it. Start your list, take your dream and make it happen. We have a wonderful world full of information and things to do. Take advantage of this while you can. We never know what is waiting around the corner. Life can change in the blink of an eye.

Whatever you are thinking of doing – just get out there and do it!

What song shall I end with today? It took some research, but I came up with Dream On by Aerosmith from 1973. A softer side of rock for them. A great song with great lyrics.