Thursday, October 2, 2008

Procrastination and Perseverance

Today I had one of those errands.

Did you ever have one of those? One of those errands, one of those tasks, one of those appointments that you had to keep but you just really, truly, absolutely, sincerely did not want to?

I’m not talking about the sort of task that awakens normal levels of procrastination, like completing a writing assignment or cleaning the house. I mean the kind of obligation that activates deep and powerful emotions. Fear, dread, anxiety, uncertainty, terror. That kind of stuff.

An obligation like visiting a loved one in the hospital when you know they’re dying but you can’t bear to face the loss. A task like selling the house you grew up in. An errand like making that first appointment with the attorney. (And, no dear readers, these didn’t happen to me. They’re just examples)

On the scale of how much I did not want to face this today, my obligation ranked higher than having a root canal and lower than fleeing my war-torn country for refuge.

It was that kind of task.

But, you know what? I did it. I got through it. Sure, there was a long period of denial this morning while I pointlessly surfed the net. There was crying after. And, in between, there was me being strong. There was positive self- talk, and lots of love and compassion, and an I-can-do-it attitude.

So I did. How about you? Did you ever have one of those?

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