Healing looks a lot like learning and relearning on a loop. In the past week I’ve taken time to reflect on what I’ve been learning lately.
1. Powering Through Is Not the Move
I’ve learned that powering through is not the move.
Picture this: You’ve made made significant progress on a project. Completion is within reach. Being done is enticing — it comes with the finality of checking it off the list and the relief of closing the loop. At the same time, if you’re being honest with yourself, you’re tired, hungry, and maybe even a little annoyed. Overall, your energy level is below what’s required.
My default at this point in a project or task is to power through. But I’ve noticed this doesn’t yield the results I hope it will. In the moment, I think “I’ll feel so much better tonight once I’ve finished this,” but once I’ve finished it by way of ignoring my basic needs, I do not feel this relief. Sometimes I don’t feel much at all.
If you’re like me, my question for us is how can we move away from feeling a strong pull to power through?
I don’t have all the answers, but I’m trying out the following:
- Taking an energy inventory when you’re XX% through the project, task, or allotted time period.
- Chunking out the project before starting. For example, with a YouTube video, my parts are: write/script, film, edit, and upload/post. I do not do all steps back-to-back. I’ve set up the project with natural breaks and milestones for celebration (and checking off the list).
- Requiring breaks and self-assessment in between chunks.
2. Doing a Little Bit of Everything Beats Doing Nothing
Another thing I’ve been learning is doing a little bit of everything is better than putting off that thing until I can address every detail at once. I tend to procrastinate tasks until I have the “perfect” working conditions to do them. For example, I’ll wait and wait and wait until I have 4 hours of uninterrupted time to do this one thing — or some other fantasy working condition.
I don’t need a huge chunk of time, even if I want it. What I need is intentional chunks of time.
This lesson helps with perfectionism. Say I’m planning an event. I don’t have time to be a perfectionist about everything on my plate. If I approach everything with the goal of perfection, I’m going to run out of time. I’m going to have worked on only 2 out of the 10 things, rather than all 10 things, done to a “good enough” extent. If you don’t send the invitations, there won’t be any party guests to enjoy your menu and venue. Some is better than none.
3. The Value of Doing Less
I’ve been learning that doing less can give you more.
Recently reading through my morning pages journal from last year, I noticed that I enjoyed berating myself for not using my unemployed days wisely. And yet, in the same breath, I wrote about how I had gotten back into my weekly YouTube video rhythm. The feeling of not doing enough actually led me to doing something that brings me great joy and a consistent routine.
The “less is more” approach applies on a smaller scale, too. Taking breaks from media, from noise, from constant input has never been so valuable. Opting for freedom from a YouTube video or podcast while brushing my teeth lets me be alone with my thoughts and ideas. Not for a purpose but to just… ponder, imagine, and roam. I visualize my quiet time as expanding the space in my brain to make way for thoughts and things that matter to me.
4. Relearning
I’m learning about relearning. A couple weeks ago I published a video about how to say no. I created this video even though there’s a similar video on my channel from five years ago. I make videos on what I’m currently working on, so a second video on saying no signaled to me that 1. it can take a long time to learn and practice things and 2. it’s okay to re-dedicate yourself. That’s normal.
Because healing is a process, not a project.
If any of this resonates with you, I’d love to hear what you’ve been learning lately. Leave me a comment down below or on my sister YouTube video on this same topic.
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