There was a point early in my life when I knew I had internal issues I needed to face, that I had a lot of dysfunctional coping mechanisms, reactive programing picked up from early formative experiences, some festering unhealed wounds. I find that visualizing my emotions helps me understand them, come to terms with them. My visualization was of this huge, sprawling, decrepit Victorian countryside manor house… uncared for, long vacant and abandoned, every room filled with heavy furniture, covered with dusty sheets. The task of cleaning house was overwhelming. It was just too big; there was no way I could complete the task and I didn’t know where to start.

I don’t recall how long I dithered and procrastinated on the steps of that mythical estate, but I do remember that one day I released focusing on completion (perfectionism?) and instead focused on just starting, taking the first steps no matter how small.

I still remember the immense sense of release I felt as I mentally walked in the door and just started cleaning house, beginning with “the first room on the right”. That phrase has become my mantra whenever a challenge seems insurmountable: Chunk it down, break it down into digestible bites, begin. 

Closing Quotes:

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney, 1901-1966

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

“It’s more mentally tiring to think about what has to be done, and all the things that might go wrong, than it is to physically to the job.” – Jack Canfield, b. 1944, ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’

As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier

Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832