Is your “to-do” list off the hook?
Do you feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day sometimes?
Do you ever feel resentful that you have to work so hard?
Is it an obligation or is it a choice?
What do I mean by that… “is it an obligation or is it a choice?”
Obligations are the things you truly have to do…there is no workaround for it.
Choices, on the other hand, are what you get to choose to do or not do.
Here’s the thing- most of life is choice. And man, do I see (and personally experience) suffering when the two get confused.
The feeling of tight chest, anxiety at the mountain of tasks to do, the compressed feeling when you realize that there just isn’t enough time….It’s real, and it happens every day.
Watch how many times you think or say: “I have to do this thing….” and see if it isn’t a “choose to” task.
Read on to the examples below, and notice what happens in your body/thoughts/feelings when you read the following:
“I HAVE to exercise today because I need to lose weight.”
Compare this with “I choose to exercise today because it matters to me to look and feel good.”
WHOA, right?
Same idea, same outcome- you exercise; however, one feels empowered and one feels forced and painful- almost like a punishment.
How about “I HAVE to go to work today” compared with “I choose to go to work because I like the feeling of supporting myself.”
It’s different, isn’t it? Most of us to “have” to go to work, but if you peel that back, it is actually a choice. You don’t have to… you could choose to stop working, and there will be consequences to that choice that you might not like, but do see… it is a choice.
I’m curious where you might be confusing the two?
When you OWN your choices, it restores your sanity, your dignity and allows you room to breathe.
You might still have a pile of “to-dos” but when you see that they are choices, you can see that the to-dos DO matter to you and why they matter to you. You can choose to do them with a bit of emotional connection to the task. And if it’s truly not important to you for any reason whatsoever, you can choose to let it go, and do so with peace around that choice.
Key words to employ when you feel a “have to” happening in your mind or words. Try instead:
I get to ______.
or
I choose to ______.
With all my heart,