unsolicited advice

Just Do Something

Photo: Malte Mueller/Getty Images/fStop

I donโ€™t mean to act like youโ€™ve never heard this idea before. Itโ€™s one that bears repeating, though, similar to the idea that you should wait ten seconds before responding to something in anger. Thatโ€™s a pretty good one. Sometimes ideas are just good, and it helps to hear them every once in a while. Hereโ€™s the one Iโ€™m talking about now: If youโ€™re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things you have to do, just start by doing one of them.

The holiday season is a particularly important time to remember this, as it tends to, every year, be a lot more stressful and overwhelming than we remember. The season is essentially an additional job โ€” managing a schedule of get-togethers, buying gifts, decorating, traveling, participating in merriment โ€” on top of however many jobs you already have. Itโ€™s nice, and I love it, but it can also kind of suck. Sometimes when you feel like youโ€™re drowning in responsibilities and obligations, it can be hard to decide where to start. A useful tool in navigating it, though, is this: to just do something.

A lot of times I find myself feeling sort of frozen with panic, feeling like I have to do absolutely everything right now. I have to do it now. Oh no, time is passing and Iโ€™m not doing everything. Oh my God. How do I do everything? Everything needs to be done right now! We canโ€™t do everything, though. We can only do something, which is what we should do.

Pick something and do that, and then move on to something else. Itโ€™ll help, I bet.

Just Do Something