I’ve been sitting here thinking of something to write but noticing a lack of inspiration. Perhaps this is because I just had breakfast and feel like relaxing, or because I came home from a vacation late Sunday night only to dive into 4 days of very busy work, or maybe because I have other things I’d rather do than write. Whatever the reason, I saw “write blog” on my to-do list and thought, “I could just do this later.” But, I’ve been asking myself – What would I learn more from – doing it now even without being in the mood, or doing it later when or if the mood strikes me. I decided it would be better to just give it a go now, inspired or not. As I’m writing, I’m starting to feel a little more enthusiastic about writing, and I think I’ve got a few things to say. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:
“Do not wait until all of the conditions are perfect for you to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.” – Alan Cohen.
The same goes for lots of things in life. If you’re socially anxious, you might feel like waiting until you’re more confident to spend time with other people. If you’re depressed, and getting out and being active feels like climbing a mountain, you might feel like waiting until you’re less depressed and more motivated. If you have a lot of work to do, you might put it off until you feel less tired, more energetic and excited, and more motivated. We all have times when we want to wait until we feel differently before we act differently. Sometimes, though, we might end up waiting for an awfully long time.
At times, the most effective approach is to act “as if” you’re ready to do things. If you’re anxious and waiting to feel confident, how about asking yourself what you’d be doing if you felt confident? Then, act as if you’re confident and see what happens. If you’re depressed, instead of waiting until you feel motivated, act as if you’re motivated, and take action now. I don’t mean to imply this is easy to do. Acting “as if” is very hard. It’s like trying to walk in the opposite direction on one of those moving airport walkways. Unlike those walkways, though, over time, as you continue to move in the opposite direction, acting “as if”, you might find that you start to feel differently. Your mood and anxiety might improve, your confidence might increase, and you might feel a greater sense of freedom – freedom to do whatever is meaningful to you regardless of how you feel in the moment. If you’re into DBT skills, acting “as if” is a lot like opposite action.
I’m glad I acted “as if” this morning. If I were to rate my motivation to write at the very beginning, it would have been about a 4/10, and now it’s about 8/10. If I’d gone with how I felt and waited for inspiration, I would have deprived people of all of these brilliant insights. Think of how much worse off the world would be :).
~Alexander L. Chapman, Ph.D., R.Psych.