My daughter did not feel like getting her socks and shoes in for school.
I told her, part of growing up is doing things you don’t feel like.
She’s 3 and a half.
Me, I’m a lot older. I only just realized this thing about doing what you don’t feel like doing.
I guess you could call me the opposite of an early adopter.
I followed up with telling my daughter, you should be more like your Dad. Cause pretty much everything I do these days I don’t feel like doing.
That’s right, I missed my calling as some kind of holy man who just sits around all day, absorbed into some fancy sofa. That’s what holy people do right? Just hang out on furniture being holy.
I actually love just sitting. Not thinking or doing anything. Just relaxing. It’s one of my favorite things in the world.
But I guygress.
Lately, I’ve embraced the feeling of not wanting to do something. Actually, I read somewhere recently that it’s a good idea to do things only when you don’t feel like it. You start to train yourself to become insanely productive because the feeling that used to stop you then becomes associated with doing stuff rather than evaporating into the couch.
It’s gotten to the point where I look forward to the feeling of not wanting to do something. To like when things feel difficult.
Because difficult is good. It’s so much better than easy.
Easy makes you soft and weak.
Comfort is best after a long, ass busting day of hard work.
In fact, relaxing feels way better after you’ve busted your ass all day. Relaxing after you sat on your ass all day is kind of meh.
Trust me, I know firsthand.
So take the hard way, the uphill, the hard thing. It’s so much more fulfilling. And it makes the opposite thing feel so much better.
I started walking every day. I started with two miles.
I’m so out of shape, and a recent bout of Covid set me back even farther.
It was 9:30 at night and I didn’t feel like doing it.
What’s cool about being an adult and not a 3 and half year old is sometimes I don’t have to do something if I don’t feel like it.
Instead of bailing, I put some sweats on, my noise reducing headphones and tried to convince myself that after a little bit, I’d actually enjoy the walk.
Any kind of lie to get me out the door.
And sure enough, as I was rounding the 2 mile mark, me-of-little-motivation felt so good, I kept going.
I went for another two miles.
If it wasn’t 10:30 at night, I probably would’ve kept going. For how long, I have no idea. Probably at least another two miles.
At one point, I felt so euphoric, I closed my eyes. The primary sensation was the music in my headphones.
It felt like everything disappeared and I was just a field of energy moving down the street. I felt like I completely disappeared. The entire world, all the stress, the past and the future all melted away as I effortlessly strolled down the street, eyes closed.
It was like absorbing into a treadmill.
I love it. I love walking. It’s so almost immediately feel good, I’m mad I didn’t start doing it every day sooner.
My only gripe is it’s not anymore as hard to get started. It’s getting too easy. So maybe somehow soon I’ll need to start increasing the mileage, speed or something else to get that edge back. Make myself uncomfortable. Make myself not want to do it so that I want to do it.
If you want more ideas that will put you into the effortless flow state like this, push your foot down on this link before you stroll down the street.