We all need to relax sometimes. There’s nothing wrong with kicking back every now and again and watching silly pet videos on You Tube. The problem comes when you find yourself watching more silly pet videos than working.
I’m constantly telling myself that I don’t have enough time. I don’t have enough time to paint. I don’t have enough time to take pictures. I don’t have enough time to write.
My husband and I have been trying to get a new reselling business off the ground recently and that does eat up a lot of my time. Learning a new skill always takes time. You have to dedicate more hours in the beginning, but once you learn what you’re doing it becomes easier and easier. This is all quite obvious.
I’m spending a lot of time on my computer learning about reselling, watching videos, listening to podcasts, reading up on the subject. When I’m done doing that I don’t really feel like doing much else, so I end up watching useless videos on You Tube. I say I’ll watch these funny videos for a few minutes and hours later I’m still watching silly videos.
It’s like a black hole of silly videos. I look at the clock and I feel completely disgusted with myself. How did I do this? Where did all the time go? I have to write a blog post. I have to work on my first draft to my latest book. I have to revise that short story I was working on. I have to finish Beta reading my son’s novel. I have to finish editing the podcast version of my book. There are so many things to get done and I’m well aware of it.
After going through my list of what I need to finish I usually end up watching more videos until bedtime. I go to bed feeling ashamed and disgusted. Am I the only one who has this problem? You must know what I’m talking about. You must’ve experienced it too.
I used to think that when writing was hard it was because I didn’t have anything to say. I don’t believe that anymore. I think this resistance that I feel is all about knowing exactly what I want to say. Somewhere deep inside I’m terrified. I’m terrified of really telling people what I believe, terrified of laying my stories, my feelings, my conviction, bare before the world. What will people think of me? What will happen if I fail? What will happen if I succeed?
To avoid failure or success I simply leave everything undone. This is no way to live a life. We were meant to show the world who we really are. I believe that with all of my soul, and yet I’m not doing it. Why?
If I told you that I really believe that each of us has a piece of god inside of us, what would you say? If I pointed out your divine potential and helped you nurture the divinity within you how would you feel?
That is what I feel driven to do, but it frightens me too. This idea that makes my heart swell with joy also opens up a pit of fear in my stomach. I guess that’s why I must move forward in this direction. Step away from the trivial tasks and get to work on the things that matter most.
The hardest tasks are the ones that are worth doing. If you sit down and tackle that one difficult aspect of your business, your relationship, your life you’ll notice more growth than you would from completing a hundred small trivial tasks. Start doing the difficult tasks and notice the difference.
The world would be a much better place if we all strove to meet our divine potential. If we all lived our best most authentic lives. How can we do it? How can we start? One way is by not turning away from what we find most difficult to do. One way is to take the bull by the horns as they say and just get it done.