What side-tracking are you allowing?

What causes you to get side-tracked? Side-tracked from taking the steps and actions that move you towards the goals that matter to you? 

What’s the real pull, behind the superficial? 

I have a frustrating tendency to somewhat blindly veer off-course. I explore something that I do need to get done, but isn’t half as important to me. And time passes. Or: I decide that I immediately need to respond to messages coming in. In most cases, I can tell myself the lie that I’m doing something productive: It needs to be done sooner or later! 

In reality, I’m not going towards anything: I’m avoiding the discomfort of getting out on a limb in new territory. If I move forwards, I might fail! So I keep myself stuck, postponing the possibility of achieve what I am longing for, one little side-track at a time. Sometimes, the excuse of it ‘needing to be done anyway’ isn’t even available: Doom-scrolling, anyone?

But of course, I might succeed. And whatever happens, I will gain new experience. 

I have learned to notice these insidious side-tracks. By recognising that what I’m actually up to is avoidance, I can choose to call my bluff and get back to what’s important. Starting out, this was tricky, but with practice, it gets a lot easier. 

Above all, when I sense discomfort doing something challenging, I now choose to see excitement. That difference in perspective matters: it’s not my rational side that throws me off track, but the emotional. 

What are the side-tracks that keep you away from what you really want? What’s underneath it all for you?