Missing The Mark (#MY Eng 68)

This is part of a running series about English idioms - less about language, more about life itself. Previously, we covered 'missing the woods for the trees', 'the elephant in the room', 'practising what you preach', blowing hot and cold', 'no smoke without fire', 'one swallow does not make a summer', 'apples and oranges', 'cut to the chase', 'leave no stone unturned', 'that's the way the cookie crumbles', 'can't have your cake and eat it too', 'old is gold', 'putting the cart before the horse', 'mountain out of a molehill', 'pot calling the kettle black', 'bite the bullet', 'go the extra mile', 'silence is golden', 'the devil is in the details', 'sink or swim', 'once bitten twice shy', 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', 'don't put all your eggs into one basket', 'chicken and egg', 'walking on eggshells', 'flogging a dead horse', 'better late than never', 'storm in a teacup', 'between a rock and a hard place', 'darkest before dawn', 'empty vessels make the most noise', 'birds of a feather flock together', 'separate the wheat from the chaff', 'let sleeping dogs lie', 'open a can of worms', 'light at the end of the tunnel', 'trial and error', 'look before you leap', 'lightning in a bottle', 'on the same page', don't judge a book its cover', 'reinvent the wheel', 'shifting gears', 'throwing in the towel', 'jump on the bandwagon', 'passing the buck', 'breaking the ice', 'cracking the code', 'when it rains it pours', 'bigger fish to fry', 'ball is in your court', 'back to the drawing board', 'square peg in a round hole', 'don't rock the boat', 'a whole new ball game', 'burning the midnight oil', 'never say never', 'get all your ducks in a row', 'make the hay while the sun shines', 'tick all the boxes', 'a leopard cannot change its spots', 'fools rush in', 'final straw that broke the camel's back', 'tip of iceberg', 'hold the fort', 'draw a line in the sand' and 'sour grapes'.

It's hard - if not impossible - to stay 100% focused every waking hour. Perfection is a lofty goal that few can quite attained. In life, we make mistakes along the way.

We all have our off-days. Some off-days can stretch on for days. Like hitting a writer's block. Which happens quite a lot in my own writings.

Often times, I'll set out to write something with a general direction in mind. Halfway through, my thoughts wander and the words take a life of its own. And before I know it, the draft takes a unexpected detour to unknown destination...

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Ironically, this entire piece about 'missing the mark' missed the original mark. I had something else in mind. But once I started actually writing - lo and behold! - the words took off into a different direction altogether...

Anyway, the important thing is that I'm heading somewhere, and that somewhere is worth exploring. Never mind where the original estimated destination was. Now that we're on an adventure, we should make the best out of it.

Some projects have been slowing, some deadlines have been missed. Through no fault of mine or my other team members. Just things happening beyond out control. That leaves a gap in my schedule, which I'm quick to fill up with something else. I'm never at rest for long. Boredom makes my hand itchy.

Yes, it's nice to have some extra spare time to work on one's passion project. And to catch up with outstanding chores that's been neglected. Oh, and there's this major global event that happens once every four years...

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I never expected the end of the year to be this way. Work tends to get stuck in a bottleneck in Q4. A personal domestic problem that has been affecting my lifestyle is thankfully receding away.

So I've missed the mark in a good way. My worst fears never materialised. And seems like this year promises for a merry and jolly Christmas...