#306 – Why do we say procrastination when what we mean is fear?

These past few days, not gonna lie, I didn't want to write my daily email––resistance was at it hard inside of me.

I saw the Ghost of Not Following Up with its typical why bother kind of attitude, fixating on the number of views and likes. The Ghost of Idea Deflection scampering to show me all I absolutely needed to get done before immersing myself in writing. The Ghost of Time Indifference, alternatively stretching the time left in the day and shrinking the time it'd take me to write the post, or the other way round.

When, writing in my morning pages, I asked myself what was really going on, I shuddered. Thinking of the blank screen, of coming up with an idea and a title seemed dangerous––I pictured a big, slimy reddish head with scary fangs, and a bony claw popping out of the screen.

It was fear.

I wasn't tired or lazy or too busy. I was just overcome with fear.

Fear of what, I asked myself?

Fear of having run out of ideas. Then I thought of Seth Godin's wise words: "you're not afraid of lacking ideas; you're afraid of lacking what you think are good ideas."

Then I recalled Anne Lamott's prayer, "Help me get out of my way so that I write what wants to be written."

And today, this is what wanted to be written. Thank you.

Where do you need help getting out of your way?

Love,

Carolina