The original due date for this as-yet-uncompleted Vox article was in July.
July!
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After building up an entire draft just to realize with my editor that we needed to tear it down and rebuild, she was expecting my next draft.
And expecting.
And expecting.
Just thinking about it made my chest knot tighten.
Days passed.
And days.
And days.
The week I was going to write it, I didn’t touch it.
The knot tightened.
The Saturday I was going to start came and went.
I had to get it to her by Monday. So I did what I knew I needed to do. On Sunday, I went to A Very Important Meeting. Our newest meeting leader, Brenda Umana, took me from clenched to calm during the 10-minute mindfulness practice. I hand-wrote five pages in the 45 minutes of writing time, a complete new draft. The rest of the day, I typed it up and then turned it in. I breathed.
There is just something magical about starting your writing with a short mindfulness practice. It dissolves the knot. It allows for space.
I recorded one for you, to help you if you struggle with procrastination as much as I do. You can nab it at the button below!
May you break through.
