My dad has given me more than a few aphorisms to guide me through life. He really is the wisest man I know. Something he’s repeatedly told me that I’ve been trying to earnestly put into action again is to not wallow in that “ugh” feeling of not wanting to do something. He told me many moons ago when I was lamenting over how I hated waking up and getting out of bed so early in the morning for work that I only made it worse by thinking about how much I didn’t like it or didn’t want to do it. I can hear him now, “It’s something you know you have to do…” His way of trying to drive home the point that it’s useless to contemplate the necessary despondently. You know you have to wake up early for work. You know you have to get in this workout. You know you have to… You know you have to… You know you have to… So don’t dwell on not wanting to. Don’t even think about not wanting to. Don’t give that “ugh” feeling any attention. You know that you have to, so just do it.
His words of wisdom came back to me last week when I found myself causing self-inflicted wounds, i.e., really putting a damper on my day because I knew I had to do a couple of things that I just really didn’t want to do. I thought, girl, you are making this worse than what it has to be. Go back to what daddy said. Don’t think about how much you don’t want to do it, just do it. And, of course, he’s right. Usually, things are never as bad as I’ve worked them up in my mind to be, and so it’s usually all wasted energy on glumness. You complete the task, you’ve checked it off the to-do list, and you end up feeling good about that. Thanks daddy, for being that wise voice stuck in my head. I haven’t quite perfected this like you, but I’m working on it!
Photo credit: Tatiana Poblah /Instagram
P.S. Three rules I live by…
