A - Z 2021: Rome wasn't built in a Day

Photo by David Köhler on Unsplash

Yesterday things were happening quicker than Lager turns to piss. Today we're slowing down considerably, after all

R is 

Rome wasn't built in a Day

This is something I need to tell myself on a regular basis because patience is not my strong suit. I want to get sh** done, and quickly. 

Just the other day I came across the following:

That thing that's worrying you right now - is it going to matter to you five hours from now?

Five days from now?

Five months from now?

Five years from now?

Put your time and effort into the things that are still going to matter to you five years from now.

Meaning, don't sweat the small stuff.

Looking at the Colosseum makes me laugh though.

It took the ancient Romans a good ten years to build it - which, btw, is actually super amazing considering they didn't have any construction machinery. However, it was (partly) destroyed by a major earthquake in the year 847. 

Kind of destroys the moral of the saying.

Rome - or the Colosseo, specifically - wasn't built in a day, but it sure collapsed within minutes.

Maybe we should be talking about "all good things come to an end" instead?

Even though Italy is my neighbor country, I have never visited Rome, which is a shame. Especially since

All Roads leave to Rome

In Middle School, students got to choose whether we wanted to sign up for Latin or Italian, you couldn't have both because some of the classes happened simultaneously. My teachers and parents were pushing for Latin because they felt it would come to me easily, and it was going to come in handy if I decided to go to Med or Law school.

12-year-old me was like, are you kidding me? Why would I want to learn a dead language? After all these Romans are crazy (Asterix and Obelix's favorite quote).

I ended up learning Italian all through Middle and High School as well as College. Today I'm perfectly able to order any Italian meal. Don't laugh, I know, you can say Pasta and Pizza as well, but can you also figure out what you'll get if you prepare the following ingredients:

Fettine di vitello, prosciutto crudo, burro, salvia, sale, vino bianco secco

No googling! I'll tell you at the end of this post. 

I also promised a crash course in Latin. Here goes:

• Errare humanum est. sed in errare perseverare diabolicum = Error is human, however remaining in error is diabolical.
• Veni, vidi, vici = I came, saw and won
• Alea iacta est = The dice have been rolled
• Quid novi? What's new aka what's up?
• Quo vadis = Where are you going?
• Quomodo vales? how are you doing?

Back to the bottom line of today's phrase: Great things take time. Even if you're impatient and want to see results, sometimes you just need to keep working hard. And breathe. And wait. 

It may help to forget about the big goal that is so far out and just focus on the next achievable steps. As in 

A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. 

Which was my initial phrase for the letter J, btw. 

Ask any Sports Coach. He'll tell you: 

If I ask my players: Do you guys want to win this season's championship? 

They'll go "Hell, YEAH!"

So what do I do next, hand over a list of things they need to do in order to be prepared to take on the season? Number of crunches and push-ups, hours of running and weight lifting, hours of actual practice, number of games in the qualifying round, number of play-off games...?

Even the most ambitious of the guys will shrug and walk away.

That's why we take it day by day, one practice unit at a time. 

Can you realte? What is something you've achieved by perseverance? Let me know and please include the link to your post, so I can reciprocate!

Tomorrow we're going to Swim with the Sharks - are you game?

PS: the ingredients?

Saltimbocca alla Romana. 

Fun fact: Saltimbocca translates to jump into mouth!

Picture source: Eat smarter