Last month I discussed the challenge of getting started. If getting started is challenging enough, if you are like me, sometimes I grapple to keep going. This is especially true when the results you seek are not instantaneous for a goal you are trying to reach, or for a difficult situation you want resolved. Oftentimes, it is not the trial or the task itself that wears us down, but it is the length of it that causes us to waver. Circumstances can become even more daunting when we can't determine the outcome.

Who among us has not been tempted to exclaim, "I wish I could chuck the whole thing and get away from it all?" Who has never become "fed up" and known an urge to escape? Who has never cried, "I've had about as much as I can take!" Yet would fleeing be the answer? Would not frustrations still hound us? Would we not take our problems with us?

We are more than midway into April, which means a third of the year is almost over. I know many of us made resolutions at the beginning of the year. This is good because it shows that some effort was made to plan. However, we make plans, but how often do we go beyond doing just that? Do we take the first step toward our goal? Do we become overwhelmed just thinking about the magnitude of the task? I must admit, I have been guilty of procrastination. It seems like the hardest part sometimes is getting started.

In Chicago on the Southside in the Chatham neighborhood lived a young woman named Nicole. Nicole was intelligent, pretty and an all around lovely person. She had a good job as a Marketing Analyst for a Fortune 500 company in Downtown Chicago, and seldom missed a Sunday to attend service at her local church. Nicole loved going to church ever since she was a little girl. Her mother would literally have to drag Nicole's younger brother, Tim, to church, but not Nicole. Nicole arose early to attend Sunday school and even made time to volunteer in her church's daycare center and special events that occurred throughout the year. On the surface, Nicole was one of those individuals that appeared to have everything going well in her life.

To encourage "Getting Started," I have posted one of the pieces from a fellow writer, Debra Johnson, for the Neighborhood Writing Alliance's Journal of Ordinary Thought, Spring 2007 edition, entitled DO IT!.

February is more than half over, and another Valentine's Day has come and gone. It's funny, as soon we turn the page on the calendar to February, Valentine's Day pops into the minds of many, especially women. Women wonder if they will be adorned with roses, chocolates or jewelry - particularly a diamond engagement ring. When no form of affection is expressed on this day, whether tangible or intangible, many women are left feeling melancholy year after year.

Women wonder if they will be adorned with roses, chocolates or jewelry - particularly a diamond engagement ring. When no form of affection is expressed on this day, whether tangible or intangible, many women are left feeling melancholy year after year.

When Did Black Love Go Out Of Style? Two-thousand-eight has been one of the most eventful and exciting years of our life time. For the most part, this is due to the fact that for the first time in our country's history, a Black man has won the Democratic Party nomination to run for president of our great country.

Since we are on the dawn of a new year, you probably have taken some time to reflect over the past year.