On the surface, beating yourself up looks like a righteous thing to do, but beneath it, it’s all about judging yourself.
Before I finished my last post and published it, I’d wasted hours and days of my time on something totally unrelated to writing. For example, browsing through social media, watching some YouTube videos. It’s true that they kept me engaged and entertained, but after a while, a guilty pleasure turned into a guilty displeasure, soon I started to criticise myself for the earlier inaction.
Sure, cut me some slack, but to tell myself it’s OK when I don’t feel OK is not easy. I am not convinced. Perhaps it’s time for a new strategy, to take on a gentler, kinder approach that is.
So, I came up with this metaphor which I was hoping would stop me from being in a rut: Those time wasters are like a long warm-up session before a real workout begins.
OK, it may sound like I was justifying myself or looking for a way out of my procrastination. I get it. It probably didn’t make much sense, but the bottom line is I’ve got nothing to lose anyway.
And the verdict? It helped. I simply dived right in to my writing routine and the rest is history.
What’s the good of beating yourself up? None. Next time when you catch yourself doing it, tell yourself: Enough!
You’ve paid your dues, don’t beat yourself up. Now it’s time to make up for lost time…
Ted Tsai 