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The little things can get so darn big!
So, our first several suggestions for Something Good have dealt with ways that we can fairly easily help other people; and by helping others, we are so often helping ourselves. I’d like to turn a little more inward now, and share an idea of Something Good that we can do that is more focused on each of us as individuals.
The ladies in my family have a concept of what we call “Soul Suckers.” I believe I’ve also seen the idea on Oprah, and she referred to them as “Energy Drains.” Soul Suckers are those little things that we need to accomplish but keep putting off for whatever reason. As time goes by, the items on our to-do lists get harder and harder and begin to really weigh us down. After you’ve put “call the bank” on your list so many times, it seems to take on its own life, and that life is generally parasitic to our own. The fact that many of these little chores would realistically only take a few minutes, rather than making the job easier, also takes its toll; because then we get down on ourselves for not just taking care of it already!
Today I’m suggesting that we do Something Good for ourselves by scratching one of those Soul Suckers off of the list. What little thing has been nagging at you for days, weeks, months, etc? Is there some small item that you could reasonably do in fifteen minutes or so that, once done, would make you feel so much better? If you want to do more than one, that’s great; but for now, just pick one little thing and do it.
In my case, I have a terrible time convincing myself to make phone calls. For some reason, I just get a little anxious about following through – to the point where I end up taking entire mornings just following up on calls I should have made over the previous couple of weeks. At present, I need to call one of the local volunteers for the organization I work with, so we can set up a time to meet. In reality, the meeting will probably be really fun, as we’ll most likely go to lunch; and in addition to covering the topics we need to cover, we’ll also have a very nice time catching up and getting to know each other better.
But, ugh! First I have to make the dog-gone phone call. I’ve put it off for weeks, and it just hangs over my head. So, after I’ve posted this, I am going to follow up and get that Soul Sucker marked off of my list.
Other common Soul Suckers for me:
1. Doing a load of laundry. Seriously, with loading the washer, then the dryer, then folding, the actual amount of time I need to spend on that project is probably less than 20 minutes.
2. Cleaning out my email in-box. Again, this is something that I could probably do in 15 minutes or so, and it will feel so much better not to have a few hundred unnecessary messages just sitting there making me feel like I’m behind.
3. Paying the bills. Collecting them, writing the checks, and getting them into the mailbox takes less than half an hour. Why do I constantly find myself procrastinating?
I’m curious as to what types of things end up being Soul Suckers for others. I’m also curious to hear about what little things you are able to cross off your list by picking one and just following through. Again, choose something small that will take 15-20 minutes, and then bask in the relief that comes from having it done. Yeah, that is definitely Something Good that we should all do for ourselves this weekend!
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