Hiding Like A Turtle

Do you ever have one of those days where you are hiding from your responsibilities? From making that phone call or cleaning that bathroom or checking off the things on your list?  I'm having one of those days right now.  I have some BIG tasks that I would like to accomplish today but instead of feeling all pumped up and ready, I'm stalling. I've been on Facebook, did 'research' on an astrology site, paid my cell phone bill, fixed myself a snack, looked up recipes for dinner and pretended to work for about 23 minutes.  In fact I'm stalling right now by writing this blog post. 

It's already 9:52am - I should have been well into my 'real' projects by now. But I'm not. I'm hiding in my shell like a turtle. 

This is a typical response to feeling overwhelmed and there was a time when I would have stopped right here, towel tossed in. My mind is cluttered up with 'have-tos' and 'shoulds' and 'musts' and I can no longer hear myself think. So I have shut down the factory. 

But I've got the power to change that. Not by forcing myself to do things - because that doesn't make me any happier, it just makes me feel used and tired. I'm going to clean my internal house. 

No - I'm not doing some weird cleansing diet...

Right now (or at least right after I post this up) I'm going to close every non-essential screen on my computer and take a few deep breaths. I'm going to spend the next 10 minutes doing a brain dump - I get out a piece of paper (yes, old school works best for me) and write down all the little things I think I need to do today. It will include everything from calling for my annual mammogram to repainting my toenails to getting that essential recording done, all of the big and little tasks that are scattered around in my head. Once that behemoth list is complete a funny thing will happen to my brain - it will actually work again. It's like cleaning out your purse or clearing off your desk.  

All of a sudden you can find what you're looking for and you have a blank slate to write on. Just making the list is cathartic.  The trick is to not try to do everything you just dumped. The power of the list is to release the pressure that builds up in our 'do more to be more' mentality. Honestly, I won't even look at the list again after I choose 1 or 2 things I really want to accomplish today. The point is to clear out my cluttered mind and start fresh and then all of a sudden actually doing things becomes more fun than sitting around hiding like a turtle. 

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