It’s interesting to be writing about the subject of procrastination when I haven’t blogged in months. The truth is, I’ve been working on a book project and I have found that all my writing energies are going in to my book. However, even in writing the book I find that I want to put off the hard work until tomorrow or the next day.
Procrastination seems to be a universal truth for many people. It shows up in various forms and takes on different lives, yet the outcome is always the same. That thing that I really need or desire to do I don’t do. And, that thing that I don’t want to do because it is a waste of time, that I do in excess. We can procrastinate in our careers, relationships, dreams, health, eating plans, organization and so many other areas. Sometimes it can seem when we have overcome procrastination in one area of our lives, it rears its ugly head in another.
So once again, we begin the new year with a fresh start and an energized resolve. This year will be different. This year I will do those things that have been pressing at my heart to do. This year, I will be better. Yet, what was once reignited resolve often fizzles more quickly than we could ever imagine. Once again, we find ourselves slipping back to old patterns and and putting off that which we were so excited to change.
What I find in the new year is that with all the resolutions of weight loss and outward change, very little thought is given to the inside. I don’t necessarily mean the foods that you are putting in your body, though those are certainly important. I am talking about the inside of your heart. What most of us need more than anything else is an emotional detox.
Most of us are trained beginning at a very young age to stuff that which we feel. Emotions have energy and what you do not express you will suppress and that means that energy will stay in your body for a life time unless you learn how to express it and get it out for good. If you’re wondering what that has to do with procrastination, let me tell you. We learn to avoid what we feel.
Procrastination is an outward manifestation of an inward experience. When you avoid what you are carrying on the inside, you will avoid that which is difficult on the outside. When we do not face our pain, we will not face our lives, it is that simple. If you go inside first and deal with what you are running from, you will begin to face that which you have been avoiding in the outer world. We live from the inside out, it doesn’t happen any other way.
I know this first hand. When I was at my lowest, addicted to drugs, medicating and avoiding in any way possible the pain that I was carrying, I did not deal with my life. Mail would stack up in volumes and I would feel anxiety just at at the thought of opening it. Everything around me was a mess. Yet, when I chose to face what I was suppressing and walk through it, my life changed drastically. Now, I open the mail as soon as it comes.
So if this is coming up for you, what will you do different on the inside this year? You will make tremendous change if you chose that route.
