𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

Mel Robbins beautifully describes procrastination in her book “The 5 Second Rule” and it gave me a whole new perspective on it as being not an act of laziness but an avoidance of stress. Something clicked.

Several weeks ago I went through an incredibly low vibin’ frustrated funk. We all get there. Usually for me it will last only a few days and then I’m able to clear the smoke and get back on track. This time it lasted me a good 3weeks. It had me questioning everything in my life. I was an autopilot in my day to day responsibilities and procrastination was at an all time high. Tasks were not getting completed. I avoided emails, texts and inquiries for days when I usually respond much faster. Mentally I was checked out.

Procrastination is the outlet we use to avoid the things that require effort and create stress on us. My procrastination was at its highest because life hasn’t particularly been easy on our family this year. We’ve been hit with quite a few challenges and unavoidable stress. Procrastination allowed me to feel in control of certain stressors, but what we also fail to realize is procrastination also creates a cycle of stress. The things we avoid will only continue to pile up, causing us to avoid them even more or feel completely overwhelmed when we do try to tackle them. For some, this can cause anxiety and depression and the cycle just continues and makes it harder to get out of.

As I continue along through life the journey of self discovery, mindfulness, and overall self improvement becomes stronger. Being aware of oneself is one of the hardest things we can do because it forces us to recognize where we need to improve… the messy parts of ourselves.

This tidbit on procrastination this morning will now make me ask myself “what stress am I trying to avoid and why”. Also, I’m trying to change my verbiage… I’m not a procrastinator I just have a habit of procrastinating. See how I switched that from being an identity marker to a habit I can break?

Hope this resonated with someone today as it did with me! Happy Friday & have a great weekend!