Listen to What You Put Off Doing (part 2)

When someone close to me died, I remember grieving hard and not really doing anything else, even eating. Someone lovingly made me a meal and sat it in front of me: I almost choked on it. I love food, and this really surprised me. As I ate it, I realized it was because eating (to me) meant I was moving on with life. In a way, I was leaving them and letting them go (my friend who had died). I choked and cried through the whole meal, but felt such release afterward.

Sometimes we put things off just because we are procrastinators. Personally, I am great at getting everything else done, except for that one thing I really have to do. The best way I’ve found to deal with my procrastination is to

1.       Identify WHAT it is I am putting off

2.       Identify WHY I don’t want to do it

Once I do this, it is harder to put it off. And I can normally find ways to make it more do-able. But sometimes, we put things off because we are grieving, and it is just hard to let one. More. Thing. Go.

We moved transcontinentally—our family of 4 in 8 suitcases after 17 years serving Brazil. It is a pretty big deal, and honestly, I’ve only started unpacking things emotionally.

I kept noticing my fingernails. I would look at them and be like “I’ve got to cut these” All. The. Time. I like them short and normally trim them every other week or so. After three weeks in the USA, they were getting scraggly. Finally I asked myself, “Why aren’t you clipping your nails?” I had a couple of surface answers, but quickly realized that it was just ONE MORE THING that I didn’t want to transition to doing in the USA. It was like letting go of one more little piece of Brazil. It doesn’t have to be big, or even make sense: but listen to what you put off doing.