Bravery & Procrastination
I always pick a word for the year. It is part of my process. Like a compass the word keeps me headed in the direction of my vision while I tackle everyday tasks. Every January I review and update my vision board, set annual goals, and identify a theme word. This year my word was BRAVE. Here it is September before I am brave enough to share it in a post. Clearly it was the right word for me.
Some think bravery is about heading into combat, rescuing lives, or performing death defying acts. There’s no arguing these feats require bravery and are incredibly admirable. But bravery for me this year meant sharing my ideas and views on social media, starting to date after 40 years, submitting my doctoral proposal to a review board, traveling alone to a foreign country, making new friends, and going to social events. For others, bravery can be forgiving someone, praying, getting out of bed and going to work, pitching a new idea, asking for help, finishing a project, ending a relationship, quietly listening and being present for something hard to hear, or saying you are sorry.
My biggest act of bravery this year has been trusting myself to take care of my emotional, physical, and spiritual needs, even if it means saying no to someone I admire, love, or care about.
Fear shows up in all different shapes and sizes and can even be disguised as feelings of overwhelm, indecisiveness, perfectionism, and a long list of other feelings. Fear holds us back. It puts us in fight, flight, or freeze mode. It destroys our ability to grow and be hopeful. It is why I decided to do a workshop on procrastination. Procrastinating is one of the most common ways to avoid feelings of fear. Prevailing over procrastination frees us up to pursue our goals and challenge ourselves to do new things with passion and purpose. I have done my share of procrastinating and I have also learned some amazing strategies to pull myself out of the pits and get to work. I can’t wait to share these strategies with you!
Love Always,
Kim