Let Me Go!

Does your brain ever refuse to do what you want it to? Mine does. For example, I hate filling out forms. They make me crazy. I can sit down to fill one out, pen in hand, and can't bring myself to put pen to paper. No matter how much I want to do it, sometimes I just can't. It depends on my mood. Sometimes I just do it and don't give it a second thought. Do things like that ever happen to you?

Have you ever had to make a phone call, but you couldn't bring yourself to pick up the phone and dial the number? Sometimes I wonder if I'm not a real boy, but rather Pinocchio with my strings held by Geppetto. Let go, Geppetto!

Over the years I've found ways to overcome the strange compulsion to not do something. I've found ways to sneak up on a task. For instance, I've learned that once I actually start doing something, the paralysis just dissolves away and I feel relieved, like a weight's been lifted from me. So when Geppetto tries to grab my strings, I tell myself I'm not going to do the entire task, I'm just going to start. Then, once I've started, the feelings of paralysis vanish and I can go ahead and finish. Isn't that odd?

When I have trouble starting something, it sometimes helps if I stop to figure out what about it is bothering me, and then I find a way to convince myself that it shouldn't bother me in this instance, that it's just not that important. Do you have any tricks like that? Any tips you want to share about how to do the things you just can't seem to do?

There seems to a switch in the human mind that determines whether your brain is actually going to comply with your wishes or not. If the switch is set to prevent me from doing something, thinking about it sometimes just makes it worse. Occasionally it helps to not think about something. Sometimes I can just reach in and throw that switch myself. Sometimes I can just think, "aw, who gives a crap" and throw the switch and find myself suddenly unhindered in my efforts. Sometimes I think I'm crazy.

Am I crazy? Do I need therapy? I suppose, with my luck, I'd find myself unable to call a shrink.


Blog Tag: Chatter