Dear Human 💕,

I can see you getting more and more frustrated with yourself every time you look at your to-do list. Some things have been sitting there for weeks. One of them has been sitting there for months.

You know they’re important. You know you can’t avoid them forever. But today? You don’t have enough time or energy left, so you tell yourself you’ll tackle them tomorrow. Future-you will handle it.

Meow. Future-you won’t handle it. Future-you might have more time and energy. But future-you will still have the same feeling about it that you have today.

Here’s what I see when I watch humans put things off. It’s almost always about a feeling they don’t want to have. Just thinking about the thing feels boring, scary, embarrassing, confusing, or too much. Some things even make your stomach churn.

Your brain wants to protect you from that feeling and says: not now. And putting it off feels good right away. Your brain picks feeling better now and leaves the problem for future-you. But future-you has the exact same brain and will do the exact same thing. Again. And again.

Then the guilt shows up, and the next time you look at the list, it feels even worse.

Here’s what you need to know: you’re avoiding a feeling. That doesn’t make you lazy or disorganized. It means you’re human.

The next time you catch yourself putting something off, ask: what feeling is my brain protecting me from right now? You can’t do much with “I don’t want to do this.” You can do something with “I’m afraid I’ll get it wrong.”

You don’t have to make the feeling go away before you start. Let it be there. It will be uncomfortable. Uncomfortable is not dangerous. You can start while it’s still there.

I hate wet paws. I still cross the wet floor when dinner is on the other side.

And forgive yourself for all the times you put it off before. Some of these things are really hard. Remember: This is hard. Be kind to yourself. Beating yourself up only adds another bad feeling to run away from.

Look at the things you’ve been putting off. What feelings are you dodging? Let the feelings sit there. I’ll sit with you.

Yours,
Cat 🐾

P.S. To your brain, the present is more important than the future. Scientists call this present bias. I take the small treat now over the big treat in an hour. Every time. And I will still ask for the big treat in an hour.