After a lengthy period of hemming and hawing, I have committed to coordinating a fund-raising walk for the National Eating Disorder Association to be held in the fall of 2015. Over the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on finding a venue and pinning down a date; while also recruiting others from my community to assist (hint, hint to those of you in the Madison, WI area!).
A friend asked how I will find the time? There are always plausible reasons to NOT do something: Too busy, too tired, too stressed, too timid, too scared, etc. etc. etc. For me – it came down to what CAN I do? After all my reading and learning and posting and ranting, it is time for tangible action.
I recently read Amy Pohler’s book “Yes, Please’ in which she shares the secret to her incredible personal productivity: “You DO it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing is the thing. The talking and worrying and thinking is NOT the thing.” As I life-long worrier and thinker, that resonated with me. At the end of the day, it is our actions that matter more than our worrying.
One of the speakers at the NEDA conference earlier this year advised that her own recovery from an eating disorder was based on doing “The Next Right Thing”, one day at a time. When playing tennis, my doubles partner and I often talk about focusing on ‘one point at a time’. Whether its recovery from an eating disorder, a tennis match, or tackling a big project; its important to act, to DO the next right thing, accepting that there may be some mistakes or bad days along the way. One missed tennis shot does not mean match-over — it means its time to refocus on the next point.