Stepping Away from Procrastination

Have you ever had something that you knew you should be working on, but just couldn't force yourself to do it? I have had two areas in my life lately where I have been delaying to start. A big one was in regularly exercising. Ever since my dear friend and walking partner moved away I have had a hard time convincing myself to walk without her. I know part has been depression. I miss my friend. I'm out of shape and know I need to exercise, but it seems like too much effort sometimes.

Almost two weeks ago we were away for the weekend and I had the opportunity to talk with my husband about some of my feelings. We have made a pact to exercise together, five days a week for 30 minutes each day. We only have had a couple times since then when we weren't able to walk together, so we did it separately. Today was one of those days. He had a meeting to go to this evening, and our plans to walk this afternoon fell through, so.... Here I sit at my computer, hot and sweaty, but happy that I forced myself to get out and walk for thirty minutes.

I still am out of shape and get out of breath from time to time, but I can honestly say that I have been enjoying exercising. No, I'm not some fitness freak - far from it. But I have found that I enjoy walking, because I am getting time alone to talk and share about my day with my husband. As we walk and talk I find that thirty minutes has passed by before I know it. My muscles still are tired and sore the next day, but each day gets a little bit better.

My other area of procrastination has been my writing. Almost two months ago I started asking for Christian women to let me know what their top ten things are that they struggle with. I was hoping for 500 responses. I think I am at 222. Sure would like to get to 250. I plan to write a book that addresses these issues.

I have had several people ask me how the writing of the book was going. Well, to be completely honest, I printed off all of the responses and they have sat on my desk. I suddenly felt that the task was overwhelming. How can I be qualified to write about the top ten struggles. What do I have to say? I took my eyes off the important fact that it was God that gave me this idea in the first place, and that He called me to write about it.

On Sunday at church, one of the ladies asked how the writing was going. My response was "Slow." I didn't tell her that I hadn't even started yet because I was scared of failure. So this week I have stepped out on faith and have begun the task of compiling all of the responses. As I come across helpful information I have been writing it down and keeping it in a file. I even wrote a sentence or two of my own! :) So if you have not yet written your top ten struggles, please comment below or take the poll in my sidebar.

Is there anything that you have been putting off doing? Why not decide today is the day to start.