A Gentle Piece Of Encouragement To Just Do Anything

Just get out of bed. Remember that rolling out of bed or pathetically sliding out of bed is still respectable (I’ve done both many a time). All that matters is that you get up one way or another.

Just say one thing about your pain, to one person you trust. Say to someone that you’re feeling lost or down on yourself or not good enough. You don’t have to give them a full monologue about what exactly is troubling your mind and your heart in this moment. Just say one thing: I’m feeling lonely or I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next with my life or I need a hug. Just say one thing.

Just speak up. Just tell that person you miss them. Just tell that friend that you’re worried about them. Just tell that family member you’re sorry. Say it, blurt it out, let it out of you – and then watch how much less power it holds over you when it is out in the open and real and being heard by the person who needs to hear it.

Just write one paragraph, or one sentence, or even one word. If you want to be a writer, yes, you must write. But that doesn’t mean that you need to sit down at your desk and write a novel in one breath. It also doesn’t mean you need to sit down at your desk and write a chapter in one breath. You can get there eventually, if you work hard. But for right now, if you’re terrified to begin or even simply terrified to continue what you had previously started and are now stuck on, just write one paragraph. Or just write one sentence. Or, if even that is terrifyingly daunting, write one word. Write it in pen on a real piece of paper and put your whole heart into it and feel how good it feels to write even just that one word. Start with the word, be brave enough to write it, and eventually you will tell a story.

Just apply. Apply to that job, that program, that school, that new position. Just apply. See what happens. Give yourself a night to put your whole heart into that application and then celebrate with wine or chocolate or a beloved movie or some other reward that you will give to yourself as a pat on the back for putting yourself out on the line.

Just ask. Ask for help, ask for guidance, ask for that raise, ask for that introduction. People are wired to want to help each other. At the heart of all (or most) of us, we want to help each other, we want to be needed, we want to put a little goodness in someone else’s life. So just ask for help. The number of people willing to do anything that they can in order to help you will astound you and warm you.

Just do anything. But specifically, do that thing you’re afraid to do – the thing you’re terrified of because you know it will make your life better in some way and you’re convinced you don’t deserve it. But you do. You deserve it. So do that thing. Do anything.