For the longest time, I backed out of events if I felt a slight dread at the thought of them. It didn’t matter whether they were social or professional events.
If I had a rough, sleepless night or got into an argument with my family, my whole day would be derailed, and I’d end up skipping the so-called event I had promised I’d attend.
I had all the best excuses lined up for myself:
There’s going to be another one, no biggie
I’m going to be in a terrible mood and ruin the night
I’d rather take care of myself right now
It’s ok if I end up missing out on something (I won’t know)
This train of thought seeped into other areas of my life. I backed out of countless gym classes. I skipped writing scheduled content and canceled doctor appointments.
I’d happily accept all these invitations, feeling inspired at the moment to socialize and do something other than my routine, only to end up dreading them the closer the date approached. The “dreaded low.”
Yikes.
But then, at some point, I pushed through a few “dreaded” moments and became accountable for my YES. And I found that every time I dreaded an event but still went to it, I came out of it changed, excited, and full of life.
If you’ve ever made it to the gym at 6 am, you’ll know that it’s practically impossible to wake up, but once you walk out of it, you feel like a million bucks.
And it goes even deeper than that.
Here’s a recent example. The other weekend, we took the kids to the pool and I didn’t want to go. I always end up cold, and the kids want to stay forever and I was just not in the mood. But anyway, we went.
As I got in the water, I realized that I had just washed my hair and I really did not want to get it wet. What do you think happened? Do you think I enjoyed myself walking around countless kids splashing around?
Heck no. I was pissed. I already did not want to come here and was dreading it, and now I had my hair to protect.
And after 30 minutes I realized how badly I was holding myself back from actually enjoying my time with the kids. I was so concerned about getting my hair wet that it was all I could think about!
So, I said fuck it and dived. I decided that all my stress wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth me being in a bad mood, and it certainly wasn’t fair to the kids or my husband. You can imagine the look he gave me when I told him I didn’t want to wet my hair.
And the moment I did, I felt SO free. I can’t explain the burden that was lifted, the moment I stopped dreading my hair getting wet.
This same phenomenon occurs in every area of your life (mostly). The mental effort it takes to get going is so strong that it holds us back, but the moment you forge ahead, the benefits gained are enormous.
I want to challenge you to push through your dread next time you have the opportunity so that you can get to experience the high. Because I promise, the high is worth it. You need to get through the “dreaded low.”