It's only Wednesday – again
When I woke up on 01 January, I was in a very good mood. Fashionably tired, true, but not worn out or hungover. I was ready for a relaxing day without stressing about anything.
When I woke up on 02 January, the situation was different yet again..
Good morning and Happy New Year. I took the liberty of compiling a To-Do list for us. Sneak preview: You're already late!
And with this – before I saw my own face in the mirror even once – my self-talk kicked into action, my stomach twisted, and a cacophony of voices tried to pull and tear.
As if this entire project never happened.
What a year, huh?
Captain, it’s Wednesday.
Another beginning of the year (or day, for that matter), new list, new voices, but after an entire year of this self-talk storytelling project here: What would Doctor Storygator prescribe?
No time for the past, the present's running out so quickly! (And how exactly is that possible?) We have ambitions, responsibilities and regrets. Now get to work!
And here I like to differ now, (hopefully) strengthened by a year of listening closely to myself. I have a list, I have ambitions, responsibilities and – yes – regrets. But running the same program and making the same mistakes again only adds to regrets in the end. Instead, let's get to it!
Ambitions
Even without specific New Year's resolutions, we have ambitions. They can come as big as a house (literally) and as small as “less of X and more of Y”. It's normal and I consider it healthy to have them. Yet no reason to completely ignore our ambitions!
Responsibilities
Oh, these definitely feel more important than ambitions. More often than not, other people are involved when we consider something a “responsibility”.
Regrets
Yeah, well. Trying to be as neutral as possible here, let's maybe see them as the other side of the coin to our brains gratification system (?)
Doing something good? Here's a shot of dopamine! Something bad? Here's regret!
Of course, it's not that simple: chocolate gives you both (Darn you, chocolate!) and while dopamine dissipates so quickly, regret tends to linger around for so much longer.
How about we only allow it to stay as long as dopamine does?
Lists
A list can feel like a curse, like something thrown into your face. But maybe you have written the list yourself, to bring “order to chaos”. A list can be powerful a tool and is definitely the first step to any powerful tool.
Secret ingredients: my own resources and needs
Having analysed all this, it's time for the twist: my own resources and needs. No, I am not talking about chocolate, but maybe an extra hour of sleep for an important presentation at work is way more important than getting the car washed.
Doing sport? Not without breakfast.
And why are you reading a book now? For what responsibility is that needed?
Maybe just for myself? Does it matter? Not everything I do must have a reason down the list.
Speaking of the list: It helps me a lot to add “positive” activities like reading a book directly to my list. They become part of it. Living my life becomes part of my list.
But you haven't earned them until the list is done!
Believing that, some lists are never done and I'd never earn them and that's the root of the trap! And I pledge to remove that root!
Before I started writing this post, I had breakfast. I sent two mails I needed to send to directly shorten my list in a fast way (ahh, the dopamine), and put on nice music to get me going. And when I'm done here, I might go for a walk. Just because ;)
Next post: “Better sick than a nuisance ?”
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