Do nothing ... or do something?

I was lying in bed the other night, this is traditionally where I have my best ideas, and wondering why so often I need to drive myself to do something, whether its exercise, tax return or something of that ilk and how often if I just leave it for that day or week, I feel like I am being lazy etc. and how this becomes a cycle of negative self-talk.

Whether it’s the ‘should’ do or the ‘I'm so lazy’? Either way, it’s not helpful and means that I’m either being hard on myself or feeling as if I’ve let myself or others down.

This is equally true when something I’m involved in is not going well, usually in personal relationships where I might worry about not being responsive enough to the needs of a friend or family member or not speaking my mind about something that I care about, but which might cause conflict.

It might even be just getting up early in the morning… to make the most of the day?

Now this may not come as a surprise to many of you, but I have discovered in my 58 years of twirls around the sun that I don’t have to get up early to make the most of the day, I can make the most of it at any time. All days have 24 hours whenever you start them!

I don’t even ‘have’ to exercise, because when I do it because I want to stretch, it feels good, and is so much more enjoyable. The tax return does have a final deadline, but by leaving it to the last minute doesn’t bring me any satisfaction, while doing a little every week, feels easy.

As for tackling difficult conversations or emails, or responding to the needs of others, giving myself a little more time and another day or two, gives me pause for reflection that so often means my response is more fully thought through and congruent.

We are all so busy, and yet by taking a little time out before responding to the demands of life, or by breaking up the demands into more manageable chunks, it can feel like we have more choice about how and why we do things, and when we have more choice it feels like we are back in control in a more gentle self-caring way.

So don’t wait until you are worn out from ‘shoulding’, what change can you make that means you are giving yourself the gift of time?