Accepting when today isn’t the day and other strategies that sometimes work

Is there a thing you need or even want to do but can’t seem to get started despite trying very hard to will it into existence? Might I suggest making Not Today an option? A wee bit dangerous because obviously everything can’t work this way but when I’m staring at my computer with a blank, smooth brain and the work just won’t happen, I try to recognize that I could spend 8 hours trying and failing to make my brain do the thing, or be kind to my brain and set that particular task aside for the day and come back to it [insert future time]. Sometimes just the permission to not do the thing today helps me get going and if it doesn’t, I at least don’t spend the full work day feeling like a failure.

Today must be the day, you say? The thing still feels impossible but time has run out? Tell someone you’re stuck. Ask them to check in on you in x minutes (20 minutes is the minimum IMO). The goal isn’t to have finished or even started when they check in, it just helps tether me to the present and reminds me that I’m a person. I’ve seen this work well via calls, texts, even in supportive online communities, so you don’t even need it to be an IRL person!

Ask yourself, what would Hazel do? Hazel will tell you - Go outside. Sniff the air. Bask in the sun. Channel your inner lab pit bull mastiff mix.