Commit two "shoulds" to the circular file...and watch your lupus anxiety melt away!
I have a confession to make. Those tasks I blogged about a few weeks ago, the ones that I was going to tackle with fervor once my prednisone kicked in? Well, they have yet to be tackled. That's right. The sewing projects that I was going to get right on are still untouched, and the pillbags desperately awaiting QC are still, well, waiting to be QC'ed. And guess what? Life has gone on! Believe it or not, the world has not stopped spinning, but most importantly, my world has not collapsed, despite the fact that my "must do's" are still "to-do's."
No one in the Gorman household has suffered greatly because a couple of coats are still missing their buttons. And my pillbag business hasn't come to a screeching halt because every last Pillbag hasn't been checked. Come to find out those "must's" that were weighing on me while I was out of commission weren't that pressing to begin with. While I wish I could have told myself that in the midst of my joint pain, the best self-talk I can offer is to apply the wisdom I've gained to today's "shoulds".
So I'm going to pick two "shoulds" - two things that I've been beating myself up about because they haven't been accomplished - and I'm just going to let 'em go. And I challenge you to do the same.
Just tell yourself that once and for all - it's okay to put these two things off. Remind yourself that the world isn't going to come to an end if they don't happen. And convince yourself that in three months, you're really not going to care if those tasks were completed or not. It's not that you can't ever get to these two things. It's that you can't berate yourself or lose sleep over or make yourself sick for not doing them. There's a fine line between not doing something and giving yourself permission to not do it. I'm asking you to make that emotional commitment to say those two "shoulds" are "shoulds" no longer. Put them in the "Maybe if I get around to it" category. Or the "Lazy Saturday with coffee in hand" file. But wherever you catalogue those "shoulds", make sure you mark them off your pressing and nerve wracking list of "to dos"...for good.
My latest "shoulds" that are getting the boot?
1) Organizing the box of warranties and manuals that I inherited from the contractor once we moved back into our house: The box is huge, and daunting, and should be tended to. But you know what? The stuff is contained. The manuals are all there. And I've even been able to find the ones I've looked for (victory!) So they really don't need to be organized anytime soon.
Item #1, off the list.
2) Coming up with a social media business strategy: Even writing those words makes me break out in hives, so I know my psyche is going to appreciate this little item being stricken from my official to-do list. While I know that social media is the way of the future, I'm just not ready to commit to a stringent schedule of posting to FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, et al for business purposes. I've tried - but my attempt to tell myself "I should be posting" just forces it to the bottom of the list. So I'm going to permanently take it off the list of things to do - and just wing it. By no means will this preclude me from posting. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if my new found freedom isn't more inspiring!
So now you know - if I blog about doing the above mentioned tasks, or about planning to do them, or about thinking about planning to do them, I expect to hear from you!
No one in the Gorman household has suffered greatly because a couple of coats are still missing their buttons. And my pillbag business hasn't come to a screeching halt because every last Pillbag hasn't been checked. Come to find out those "must's" that were weighing on me while I was out of commission weren't that pressing to begin with. While I wish I could have told myself that in the midst of my joint pain, the best self-talk I can offer is to apply the wisdom I've gained to today's "shoulds".
So I'm going to pick two "shoulds" - two things that I've been beating myself up about because they haven't been accomplished - and I'm just going to let 'em go. And I challenge you to do the same.
Just tell yourself that once and for all - it's okay to put these two things off. Remind yourself that the world isn't going to come to an end if they don't happen. And convince yourself that in three months, you're really not going to care if those tasks were completed or not. It's not that you can't ever get to these two things. It's that you can't berate yourself or lose sleep over or make yourself sick for not doing them. There's a fine line between not doing something and giving yourself permission to not do it. I'm asking you to make that emotional commitment to say those two "shoulds" are "shoulds" no longer. Put them in the "Maybe if I get around to it" category. Or the "Lazy Saturday with coffee in hand" file. But wherever you catalogue those "shoulds", make sure you mark them off your pressing and nerve wracking list of "to dos"...for good.
My latest "shoulds" that are getting the boot?
1) Organizing the box of warranties and manuals that I inherited from the contractor once we moved back into our house: The box is huge, and daunting, and should be tended to. But you know what? The stuff is contained. The manuals are all there. And I've even been able to find the ones I've looked for (victory!) So they really don't need to be organized anytime soon.
Item #1, off the list.
2) Coming up with a social media business strategy: Even writing those words makes me break out in hives, so I know my psyche is going to appreciate this little item being stricken from my official to-do list. While I know that social media is the way of the future, I'm just not ready to commit to a stringent schedule of posting to FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, et al for business purposes. I've tried - but my attempt to tell myself "I should be posting" just forces it to the bottom of the list. So I'm going to permanently take it off the list of things to do - and just wing it. By no means will this preclude me from posting. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if my new found freedom isn't more inspiring!
So now you know - if I blog about doing the above mentioned tasks, or about planning to do them, or about thinking about planning to do them, I expect to hear from you!
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