In this difficult time and good times too, there are some things that we put off. Last week, I was talking to a good friend and fellow highly sensitive person, Amy Barbato. She provided a guest post for her mother’s recipe on comfort food. https://www.thehighlysensitiveperson.com/highly-sensitive-people-can-you-use-some-comfort/
Amy has been going through a particularly difficult time for the past few months because her mother had been ill in an assisted living facility. Shortly thereafter, she passed away. It’s difficult coping with the current crisis, but can you imagine how she felt when she had to deal with the grief of losing her mother? The above picture of a cardinal has special significance. Amy shared with me that after her mother passed, she saw a cardinal and felt that she was communicating with her mother. I really believe that this happens. Has this ever happened to you?
I spoke to her last week and she mentioned that she was coping the best way she could, but was having a nagging feeling of putting off writing her mother’s obituary for the local paper. I told her that she was putting too much pressure on herself to do it. This was natural because she was still grieving and wasn’t up to doing it yet.
I mentioned to her that she could jot down some notes to say what was in her heart. That she didn’t have to finish it all in one sitting. I told her that starting IS the hardest part. The real writing is in the rewriting. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can always make adjustments. Do this as you can and your mother’s obituary will write itself. I use this technique when I do all of my writing.
Can any of you relate to doing something “too perfectly”? Is that a reason for not starting or not finishing something?
After a few days, she was able to write her mother’s tribute to her beautiful life and things just started to flow. https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/nhregister/196126288?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=obitshareamp&fbclid=IwAR3S4gJy6nOjdYAN0sOIVDqKoxGGzBWdQqRE1umOhiupN40peIP_ctljS_0 She felt a feeling of relief and peace. How would you feel if you started and completed something that you wanted to do? This might be your compelling reason to go for it!
In order to do something that’s difficult, you need a compelling reason to do so. In this case, Amy had a compelling reason to honor her mother. She also needed to relieve the burden of having “loose ends” of not completing what she wanted and needed to do.
What are you putting off? Do you have a compelling reason to start doing something about it? How can you use this “unique downtime” to do so? I’m interested in any thoughts or comments that you have.
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