"Don’t half-ass things."
"Finish what you start."
"Don’t give up just because it’s getting difficult."
These are all harsh motivators that really teach us about digging deep and getting things done. Of course, there are times when these phrases go from helping someone get something done to pushing them into a guilt-ridden frame of mind.
As someone who personally suffers from anxiety, there have been numerous times in my life when these phrases have been thrust toward me. Granted, they were by people who were trying to help me, but when standing in the thick of the trees, it’s sometimes impossible to see the forest. As cliché as it may be, here are some quick ideas, or should I call them "thoughts to process," when you can’t see the forest for the trees.
Stop
Realize that there is nothing wrong in taking a small break to get your bearings; an old hiking rule tells us to stop and wait where we are if we get lost. The reason isn’t because you shouldn’t keep moving, but that it’s better if you don’t. Think about that for a little bit. If you keep walking in hopes that you’ll “figure it out as you go,” what would happen if you ended up slipping on something and sliding down a hill? Not only would you be completely off the path that you were originally on, making it harder for people to help you, but you might also have injured yourself in the process. So, during the times that my schedule is starting to look overbearing, I try to take a little bit of time to plan it all out. This helps me stay organized, which helps me keep a firm grasp on what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.
"Take Care of You"
I recently learned this in my leadership class. This phrase has a plethora of different interpretations, but my favorite one is the idea that only you know how you’ll handle things. You may know someone who seems almost superhuman and can do anything regardless of how busy their schedule is. The truth is they might just be really good at time management, and another truth is that maybe they don’t do it all perfectly.
A friend of mine once confided to me that though his schedule was always crammed with productive things to do, he rarely ever enjoyed doing any of it, which made him start to hate how he was living. A couple of months later, he ended up having a nervous breakdown, causing him to abandon all of his responsibilities and taking a long leave of absence from college. He didn’t take care of himself. He was doing everything that was expected of him, but in all of his curriculars and extra-curriculars, he wasn’t doing anything that he personally found enthralling.
Taking care of you could also be seen as doing something you love, but that is just one of the many different interpretations of the phrase. Regardless, it’s important to remember that you are not other people, and other people are not you. You do what you need to do in order to take care of you.
Do What You Can
The last thing to remember when facing hardships is to remember that it’s important to do what you can. I get overwhelmed by things easily and that usually ends in me procrastinating things or pushing them off. This process escalates until I am standing at the base of a mole hill that I’ve turned into a mountain. So now what do I do? Well, I have a scenario that really helps me when I get into this situation. I picture my life as my bedroom when it’s super messy. Everything that needs to be cleaned up is something that I need to get done.
The trick to this mental image is not to allow myself to get overwhelmed by what the big picture looks like, but rather to remind myself that what’s most important is just to start. So how do you start? Well, why not start with what’s in front of you? By doing what you can right this moment and just slowly working, you’ll find that things seem to finish themselves. Taking breaks is important, but don’t let them distract you from your overall goal, which is to clean your room. Doing what you can as things come up will help to improve your overall motivation to do things.
As a self-proclaimed master procrastinator, I understand wholeheartedly what it feels like to not want to do that paper or read that assignment, but you’ll find that if you do it now and get it done, you’ll feel more productive and less guilt ridden. Overall, you’ll feel better about yourself, and that is the most important feeling: the feeling that you accomplished something you needed to do.
There will be times and certain circumstances where these ideas won’t work. There will be times when things are beyond your control and you won’t be able to make a single choice. If that time comes, my hope is that you will remember the general meanings of the things I’ve talked about and will use them to help provide yourself and the people around you with a different perspective than you originally had.
