I think there are plenty of great ideas out there. Coming from so many sources – books I read (or listen to), blog entries and comments, medical professionals or just plain intuition and luck.
The challenge comes in putting those ideas into practice in your everyday life.
An example. I see a therapist every couple of months. It is helpful to talk with her, but I mostly do it so that if I have a total meltdown I can call and get scheduled quickly and easily (nothing like trying to find a therapist when you really need one…).
It’s really weird when I go to see her, because it’s like I take a pocket of time from my day, spend the time in the appointment, but when I’m done, I just go back to my regularly scheduled life, pretty much just letting whatever we talked about roll right out the other ear as I move on with the rest of my day.
I’m usually very involved with the appointments, and I talk about many of the things I share on the blog. She will listen, ask me some questions, and offer what is usually some very valuable and tangible advice. I even take notes.
Then I leave the appointment and act as if it never happened. Sure, it’s in my head for a bit, saying things like “that was a good idea, I need to try that”, or “that idea sounds like it might work, but I have to adjust this part or that part”. But it never fails that I get wrapped right back into whatever is going on that day, and all those ideas and suggestions fall off some cliff and land in the deep depths of my mind somewhere.
Why is that? If these ideas are so good, why don’t I do them? And we’re talking simple stuff – nothing that requires a big life change or anything. Something such as setting small realistic goals (I tend to set huge unrealistic goals), breaking what seem like big tasks down into smaller bite size pieces (I tend to bite off more than I can chew) and not beating myself up over little stuff that doesn’t matter (I tend to be a neurotic perfectionist).
It’s when I find those notes I took, or have another appointment quickly approaching, that I will think about that stuff, and wonder why I haven’t done any of the things we talked about.
So, true to the pattern, I have an appointment in a couple of weeks – and I plan to talk to her about this. Maybe we can collectively figure out why I am the way I am.
Anyone else like this, or is it just me?
