“How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterwards”.

I love that Spanish proverb.

Only…

…it’s hard to enjoy it when you’re surrounded by unfinished tasks and stressed about the consequences of not getting stuff done.

A night out with your mates can be spoiled by the knowledge of what you’re going home to afterwards, and the embarrassment of not wanting to invite them back because of the state of your home.

Snuggling up on the sofa watching trash TV is no fun when you have to clear a mountain of clutter off the sofa first, and then it sits on the floor distracting you while you’re trying to concentrate on whether the leopard seal will escape from the orcas (not that Frozen Planet is trash TV!)

Instead of being a delicious luxury, it feels like you’re miserably hiding.

You know there’s all this stuff you should be doing but you just can’t seem to get started.

And the longer it goes on, the more overwhelmed you feel so the harder it is to get started.

Bleuch!

I know because I’ve been there. I’ve spent whole days wandering miserably round my house, wrapped in a blanket, unable to summon up the willpower and energy to get started.

Even though I knew that I’d feel so much better when I did.

What? You thought you were the only one who had days like that?

Wanna know what got me started in the end?

Communication

Talking to someone about how I was feeling and what I was doing (and what I wasn’t doing) made all the difference.

Because the thing that keeps us stuck most of all is…

…SHAME

I felt so embarrassed to be in that state.

The last thing I wanted was to let my friends and family know.

But the more I hid it, the worse it got, the more ashamed of it I felt, and the less I got done!

So I needed to talk to someone special.

It had to be someone who would ‘get’ me. Someone who would understand where I was.

It had to be someone who wouldn’t judge me. Someone who would sympathise with how I was feeling, and help me shift it, without looking down on me.

It had to be someone who was as committed as I was to me getting stuff done.

It had to be someone who could be around the way I was feeling without taking it on themselves. Who could give me the space to feel what I was feeling, while remaining positive and creative.

*****

Over the years I’ve made sure there are people like that in my life. So now I can pick up the phone to one of them when my energy and motivation takes a nosedive.

Some of these fantastic pillars of support are people I just happened upon and became friends with.

But many of them are people I’ve connected with through the work I’ve done on myself. Other people on the personal development journey. People who’ve had the same, or similar, training as me.

Who do you turn to when you’re stuck?

Who gives you non-judgmental support to get you in action when you’re feeling so overwhelmed you don’t know where to start?

Who gives you a safe space to tell the truth, and free yourself from the paralysis of shame and overwhelm?

Post below to tell us who can kick-start you into action without making you feel like a failure for not having acted before.

And if you don’t have people like this in your life, get into action now to make sure you do!

And start enjoying those moments of doing nothing (and resting afterwards)!