This post tried to boss me around a bit.

It was subtle at first.

I started thinking about what to write last Saturday.

I sat with my computer in my lap.

I had a bit of anxiety that was I spending precious leisure time on Saturday trying to fit some work in.

I wasted some time online doing “research” about possible post topics.

But the words didn’t come.

Sunday, it was the same.

I knew I had a very full day on Monday that wouldn’t afford me time to write.  I wanted to do myself a favor.  I wanted to give myself a break and write ahead of schedule.

But the words wouldn’t come.

I couldn’t even come up with a topic to write about.

Here it is, Tuesday morning, and the words are coming.  And it’s all because I decided to stop letting this assignment boss me around.

It’s when I finally decided that I was the one who was going to do the pushing.  And not the kind of strain where you rush to complete something, like I did a few weeks ago.

The kind of push where you push back.

I’m going to miss my 9 am deadline this morning.

But you know what?

I don’t care.

And I bet you don’t really, either.

And there’s a great deal of freedom in that.  I want to share it with you.

The great push

There are a great many things we bring into this world by pushing.

And there are things and people we move about from one place to another with gentle and not-so-gentle proddings, nudges, and shoves.

But there’s another kind of push that we do.  An indwelling kind.

There’s the push against deadlines.

A push to do more with less.

And we get pushed around quite a bit by expectations—our own and other people’s.

This very thing happened to me with my weekly deadline.

I let it push me around.

Every time I’ve given myself permission to relax, to not push, I’ve found my words.

I’ve discovered a message that needed to be shared.

Today, I want to write a bit about bringing your life back from the push.

I want you to reclaim pieces of your schedule.

I want to you take back portions of your mind that are constantly pushing against the anxiety of tasks undone, of long to-do lists.

Quit letting your life boss you around

I’m writing this post today with people-pleasers and high achievers in mind.

Because items on their lists all carry the same kind of urgency.

There isn’t room to prioritize or differentiate between tasks.

It’s all important.  It all needs to get done.

And it all really needed to be done yesterday.

But all kinds of people struggle with the push.

I wonder what would happen if we let ourselves be carried instead.

You might snort to yourself at the thought and think,

“Yeah?  Who’s going to fetch the palanquin for me?”

And this is where I get to thinking about all the things that carry forward on their own.

The things that don’t need our help.

The fact that, for good or bad, time passes without our pushing.

When your mind worries endlessly on a problem, it isn’t solving anything.

If you find that kind of mental analysis entertaining, fine.

But be conscious and deliberate about letting your mind graze on worrying thoughts.

Don’t let yourself get pushed there.

And those urgent things that need doing.  Are they all equally urgent?  Are there any that you could leave for a week without major catastrophe?  A month?  A year?

Give yourself that time.  Quit letting those tasks boss you around.

Final thoughts

There’s nothing new here in today’s message.  Others have said it better:

“Do less.  Be more.”

Or, for those of you who love poetry and pithy sayings:

“Sit quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself”  -Osho

(Osho really had it going on.)

And the post that was bossing me around?

I just wrote it in 20 minutes.  And I’m only 4 minutes short of the deadline.

So.  Wanna try it?

Just push less.

I’m pretty sure that the harshest critic is the one that lives inside.

And you can talk to her.

She’s more reasonable than you think.