Just because you procrastinate till Monday, doesn’t mean you’ll actually take action
Today is Monday. It’s a day where many procrastinating people who made commitments to a goal have vowed to get started.
And as is usual, most of them will fail.
I heard Dr. David Hawkins once say that if we are being called to be a doctor and we avoid the path simply because we think it will take too long, the call doesn’t go away…and neither does the time commitment.
We’ll still have to do the work and really though, wouldn’t it be better to start sooner than later?
So, if this “I’ll start Monday,” person is you, or a friend 😉, let’s talk for a moment, shall we?
I spent years attempting to avoid my emotions around my weight. Years procrastinating on pursuing my passion. Years on choosing to keep toxic people in my life instead of making room for ME to flourish.
And no matter HOW BAD I thought I wanted to succeed, my choices and results showed otherwise.
I was an epic procrastinator!
We’ve all heard the quote:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” -Marianne Williamson
It’s true.
Something deep inside me actually battled with the idea of being highly successful. Like, I KNEW how capable I was and yet somehow that frightened me to no end.
I even remember getting the first glimpse of that and having this AH HA moment when the thought came to me…
“I’m not afraid to fail, I’m afraid of succeeding! I don’t want to be seen.
I don’t want to people to criticize my success.
Then again, I don’t want people to hang on my coattails.
I don’t want to risk everything being taken away from me.
It’s SO much safer right here with the bare minimum to just get by.
Besides, I don’t want to seem greedy by pursuing THAT kind of success…”
What the?!?!
Do you hear EGO making a case for my ‘safety’ in all of that? It’s VERY clear why I suffered at my own hand for so long.
I heard Bentinho Masarro say in a video that the source of all human suffering is in the believing of non-truths…aka that fear and limitations ARE in fact real.
They are not.
And the more we give power to them AS truth, the more we suffer.
Over my 14 years of coaching, I’ve come across so many others who have this same sticking point. It’s not even conscious. In truth, it’s more like a virus of the mind that infests our mental, emotional and physical states.
When I finally made the commitment to lose weight and break my food addictions, it came after an almost 20 year battle with depression, obesity and chronic illness.
Up to that point, the virus had me believing that I’d have to give up “good food” and my power of choice. I was a slave to junk food and toxic thoughts which lead to addiction and poor health.
On the flip side, once I finally surrendered my fears and accepted my potential, I lost 80 pounds, got divorced, immersed myself in meditation and yoga, and pursued my passion of coaching by changing careers.
When I had my near death experience in 2012, it came after 6 months of resisting my calling to become a spiritual teacher.
I tried to avoid it but it wouldn’t go away.
Source wanted me to surrender…
But I was too afraid of what I’d have to “give up” in order to take that path. Here once again, I bought into the belief that the path would be too restrictive, depriving me once again of my power of choice.
Being on the other side now, I see my fear had nothing to do with what I would have to give up and everything to do with feeling unworthy of receiving all I’d gain from taking this path.
Having made the conscious choice TO succeed in these paths has given me a greater power to choose based on my highest good, not on the destructive, addictive patterns of my past.
See, setting a goal and seeing it through to the end is extremely counter-intuitive.
Your subconscious mind does not want you to change because the new path is unfamiliar territory…seen as unsafe…compared to where you are now. There are too many unknown variables to consider so it’s easier for your mind to just make excuses to stay complacent.
Plus…
Your ego is in a constant state of fearing death which means any potential you have for growth will be thwarted in order to preserve what Ego thinks is the most consistent state of identity.
The “I’ll start on Monday,” is your subconscious’ way of tricking you into believing you will be ready in the future. As if by some miracle your skill set or mindset or even circumstances will somehow shift to support the necessary greatness this goal requires...
Just not today.
However…
You won’t be ready because you did nothing to change your habits or environment in preparation for this change.
Just like every other Monday that came and went without you taking action.
In this case, I like to refer back to the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indy is being chased by the Nazis through a cave to find the Cup of Christ. He comes upon a very large drop off where he’ll need to find a way to get across.
This is where most of us get stuck.
We don’t physically see the path so we either drop to a painful death of our original intent or we run away in complete confidence that it must not be the right direction.
What would happen if, even though you had no clue how or when it would happen, you went forward anyway, courageously?
The way Indy did!
What then would be possible?
My advice: If you believe you are ready, start today.
Prove to your mind that you ARE ready and begin working voraciously to validate that readiness with everything you’ve got.
It’s called a Leap of Faith for a reason!
When I took that approach to losing weight, I found the path was far more satisfying than my old habits and beliefs ever were. I learned what I was truly made of, how far I could push my limits, and what I was capable of achieving once fully committed.
As a side effect, my entire life shifted for the better.
Toxic people dropped out of my life with ease. I manifested a career with more pay, more flexibility, and more passion.
When I took that approach to my spiritual path, I found a side of myself that’s been dormant my entire life begin to surface.
I began inspiring people to pursue their spiritual connection by just being myself. I manifested greater relationships with my clients. I created more opportunities to share and learn in my path. And I wake up clearer and more blissful than ever before.
Sometimes…more times than not…the path will not look anything like you imagined it BUT if you allow yourself to approach it with child-like curiosity it will show you so much better.
If you are being called to create a new change in your life or pursue a passion, the longer you avoid it, the more it will eat away at you UNTIL you surrender to it.
It WON’T go away.
Find someway to move forward on it TODAY, then again tomorrow, and again the next day. Let yourself become obsessed with the passion instead of being obsessed with the fear and soon, you’ll find that it materializes without any force of your own…just like Oprah did:
What will you take action on today? Leave a comment below and tell me how you will move forward without needing to have all the answers ❤
About the author:
Alida is an Intuitive Life Strategist, student of comparative religions, and co-owner of Mind Soul Fit OC in Newport Beach, CA. Her coaching company, Ambassador for Goodness, hosts various workshops on mindfulness, spiritual entrepreneurship, intuitive eating, art therapy, and relationship success. This blog is also a podcast called Wisdom Nuggets and can be found on iTunes, Anchor, Google Play Music, Overcast, Pocketcasts and almost anywhere podcasts are found!
