I thought about not doing a blog post today. I thought very seriously about it and I was ready to give up on this 30 day blog challenge. I am having one of those days, well one of those weeks really, where I just don’t want to do anything. I feeling deflated, frustrated with life, and just fed up. I don’t know why but I just am, and you know what, that’s okay because it happens to everyone.

I know that if you have a blog and you post about self-help stuff and positivity that people expect you to be positive and uplifting all the time but in reality that’s just not possible. We all have down days and it’s important to realise that this is okay. It’s normal and it’s natural. No one walks around with a permanent smile on their face.

I didn’t blog over the weekend and I didn’t do a blog post on Monday either. My reason, I wasn’t bothered, I didn’t think I had anything positive to say. Five minutes ago while I was sitting outside having a cup of tea and looking at my rose bushes which are in full bloom, I realised that I would like to read a blog that’s real, not something that is false. I had contemplated doing a list post or a how to blog post, but to be honest, I really didn’t want to. I would have been quite happy to sit today and do absolutely nothing. Surfing Facebook and just wasting time till my children get home from school sounds very appealing but I know that come this evening I will be extremely disappointed with myself. So I decided that I would write about what I do when I don’t want to do anything. I have developed a little system that really helps me when I feeling this way.

My Top Tips For Doing When You Don’t Want To

I have a mantra that I repeat when I get down. It’s “Get up, get dressed, and show up.” It’s simple enough, I get dressed and show up to life. Today I decided to ditch the tracksuit bottoms and pull something nice and uplifting from my wardrobe. I chose a nice pair of jeans, a jumper that I tend to keep for good wear, and my comfy shoes. I washed my hair, and put some tinted moisturiser and mascara on. It’s an instant pick me up and I felt ready to face the day.

The next thing I did was put on some upbeat music and clean the kitchen. I emptied the dishwasher, cleaned all the surfaces, and smiled as I looked around at my sparkling kitchen. Another pick me up.

Next, I put on a load of washing and opened my back door to allow in some fresh air.

All done so next on the list is to motivate myself to do some work. I sat down and wrote out my to-do-list and turned on my laptop. This is usually where everything falls apart but I know from past experience that I always feel disappointed with myself at the end of the day if I don’t do something.

It’s so easy to listen to the little voice in my head that says, “you work too hard, you need a day off, check what’s happening on Facebook, you can always do work tomorrow, you don’t really need to do it today,” and of course there’s the little voice that says, “You should do what you enjoy doing and what you want to do.” If I listen to that little voice I end up doing nothing. The relief I feel is instant when I decide that yes I should do what I love and I don’t love doing my work. It’s great initially but again once the evening comes I feel very disappointed and follow this with promising to do double tomorrow. If I let it, it could turn into a never ending circle.

So today I am taking my own advice. I am using my blog challenge to write this post and I know that I am going to feel so much better once I do. I will feel accomplished and I’ll know that I have been me and what I’ve written is real and honest.

For me, this is perhaps the most important thing. I want my blog to be real and to show the real me. Yes I have days where I am on cloud nine and I have some great information to share, but I also have days where I feel like crap and I don’t want to share this with the world. I’m sure you can relate, as most people can. It’s stressful trying to keep up with everything that needs to be done especially if you have client work and you are trying to write for yourself, run a blog, run a Facebook page, teach a children’s writing group, attend an adult writing group, write for upcoming events, make dinner, do homework with your kids, and so on. But you know what, this is life and if I didn’t have all these things to do what would I have?

Sometimes the easiest way to get yourself unstuck is to focus on everything that you do have. Take a couple of minutes out to find the good things, to really look at your life from the prospective of an outsider and see just how great it is. I know I have an amazing life and I have been blessed with wonderful opportunities. Some days, however, it takes me a little longer to see them.

I’ve written almost 1,000 words now, free style, I never plan my blogs, I prefer to just write them as they come, and already I feel so much better. I feel like I have shared a part of me with everyone that reads this and all I hope is that if you read this you will take the message that it’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to have an off day, or an off week. It’s okay to feel down. Nobody is perfect and happy 100% of the time. Acknowledge it and find your own way of pulling yourself out of it.

My way is to write especially when I’m feeling stuck and I was planning to journal this morning to get all the crap out of my head and to put on paper how I was feeling. I know it really helps me to process things. Instead I have placed it here for the world to read, and you know what, I’m okay with that too. If it helps someone, I’ve done something good.

Until next time,

Amanda