You know that anxious feeling you get when you have a bunch of unfinished obligations? When you make promises to yourself (or others) that you haven’t delivered on.
To me, it feels like holding onto a huge bouquet of helium balloons in a windstorm, balloons I intended to deliver to a friend. Each of those open loops that are so big and heavy that they can drag me around—I might fall over. I hold on tight to the strings, but I can only grip for a little while.
And I would feel terrible if I let go of those balloons, watching helplessly as they drift away.
Yeah, that feeling is bad for your health.
When you have Crohn’s Disease, your energy is precious. You never know when you’re going to have to tap into your reserves to get through the day.
Every promise you make, every obligation, makes a demand on your energy. It takes a lot of mental energy to carry burdens of obligation—to remember what you said you were going to do (even for yourself!).
If you are somewhat of a conscientious person, you will constantly run a mental subroutine to keep track of those things—checking that you haven’t forgot them. That’s a big burden to bear.
This often manifests as worry. Or anxiety. Neither are good for your health.
So what do we do—never take on any obligations?
No.
It’s not possible to live a life without obligations—even obligations to ourselves.
Instead, get intentional. Focus on meeting obligations as quickly and diligently as you can. Keep a promise to yourself daily.
For big projects that you couldn’t possibly finish in a day, work on them a little bit at a time—regularly. I assure you, knowing that you are putting in the work is enough to put your mind at ease.
Fulfilling your obligations—keeping your promises—will lessen the burden of worry on you. Once you know that you will come through, it’s easier to relax. That burden of anxiety lifts.
When you have a mind free of anxiety, you have more bandwidth to focus on healing.
Finish what you start—it’s worth it.
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