One of my (many) new year’s resolutions is to start this blog. I had one false start last year, and I kept getting excited and having things to say but then just not doing it. Sound familiar?
We do this for so many things so often, especially when they’re that bit outside our comfort zone. There are sooo many reasons we do this to ourselves. It’s a kind of self-sabotage.
I want to write a blog because I’m learning so much both about myself and about life. Maybe you will get something from it, but mainly I want to record it for myself and clear it in my brain, and also I believe that two heads are better than one and three’s even better, so if my thoughts can spark different thoughts in you we might come to an entirely different understanding of a topic. Who knows! I certainly won’t find out by keeping my ideas to myself.
This is what I have discovered: at the end of the day the reason we need to do something has to be because it nourishes ourselves. Do I have an overwhelming desire to ‘help’ you and ‘save’ the planet? Yes, of course, probably many of us do in our own way. The thing is, do I know what help you most need right now? No, I cannot know. Can I single-handedly save the planet with a blog? No unfortunately. Coming at it from this mindset makes it a heavy, heavy task and it will drain my energy and make me sad and I can say with absolute certainty, having been there before, that such a feeling will not help you and it will not save the planet. It may even do the opposite.
So I chose a brain shift. I write ‘you’ but actually I write to myself. I write to myself with the advice I needed this morning, or three years ago, or when I was a kid. I write to nourish my soul. I write because when I close my eyes and ask my heart what it wants to be doing it says ‘a dip in the ocean would be nice and WRITE’. So there you go. I’m a firm believer that everything starts with the question ‘why am I doing this?’ My new theory is that the answer should include ‘because it nourishes me’.
Many of the thing I’ve been learning about have been around overcoming fears and blocks that stop us living the life of our dreams, and I’m really excited to share them here and in my coaching. At the end of the day though when you’ve done the work and run out of excuses there comes a point when you have to just do it.
I was cleaning my house in my annual ‘no dust shall survive into the new year’ frenzy and I found this card which came with my beautiful Violet Grey chakra charm. Coincidentally it was the throat chakra charm, which is about speaking your truth. It hit me right where it needed to at just the right moment.
“But then are you ever really ready to get uncomfortable and pursue a passion? Go on darling… do it anyway!”
My ‘main’ New Year’s resolution if you like is to embody the spirit of Brenè Brown’s book ‘Daring Greatly’ – so here goes! Doing it!
PS. Please please please please please if you’re a fellow procrastinator be kind to yourself. Like I said above it is often a kind of self-sabotage, so just being mean to yourself about it will not make you do whatever it is but it will make you miserable. Take it from a seasoned procrastinator. Be very honest with yourself about why you’re procrastinating, and if that’s too hard come see me and it’s something we can explore in coaching (keep an eye out for my motivation jump start coaching, opening soon – with a special starting deal! This is designed especially for you). xx
Wonderful first step, thank you Kirsty.
Thanks for reading Brian!
Love the thoughts behind your writing Kirsty. I think your point about not being too hard on yourself is brilliant. Thank you for breaking the procrastination habit and spreading these wonderful ideas of yours.
Thanks Mitch! Yes being hard on ourselves seems ingrained but I’ve only ever found it counter-productive. It takes practice to recognise it though!