Sometimes fear can stop you right where you sit and instead of just getting started on what you say you want to do or taking additional steps towards what you’ve already started, you just do nothing.
I know.
I’ve been there and it’s a quite common place to be so don’t feel alone.
If you want to get started, but don’t know where to begin, sometimes you just have to do something. You have to shake up your energy and move things around.
Did you ever get an answer to a question you’d been stuck on by taking a walk? Or come up with the next best step while doing the dishes? Sometimes you need to do something else to get moving on what’s right in front of you and lucky for you, I have 50 ideas to get you started.
Enjoy!
1. Put on some music and dance
2. Flip a coin
3. Ask a friend to help and gauge how you feel about their suggestion
4. Take 10 deep breaths
5. Have a good cry
6. Go for a long walk
7. Put your options in a wheel of choice and spin it
8. Do some exercise
9. Do something nice for someone else
10. Watch a funny movie
11. Write out as many things as you can think of that need to get done and choose one by random
12. Write a poem about how you’re feeling
13. Observe yourself in the third person
14. Schedule a session with a therapist or coach
15. Meditate
16. Set a timer and do one thing
17. Play with a child or an animal
18. Remind yourself why you want to do this thing in the first place
19. Teach someone how to do something
20. Plan a reward or celebration for getting to some milestone
21. Read or watch a story of someone who did something similar to what you want to do
22. Pray or touch base with something bigger than yourself
23. Make a gratitude list
24. Put on some good music and sing along
25. Make some art
26. Do a puzzle
27. Go outside and be in nature
28 .Do a power pose
29. Watch an inspirational video
30. Join a group of like-minded people who are doing what you want to do
31. Look up at the sky
32. Ask someone for an informational interview
33. Do something fun with a friend or family member
34. Clean your surroundings
35. Get rid of 10 things that no longer serve you
36. Have a 1 minute “tantrum like a toddler” moment
37. Read an inspirational book
38. Write yourself a love note
39. Set a timed goal for the day
40. Tell other people your plans
41. Give up, surrender control
42. Do something horribly
43. Make a plan that involves other people in some way
44. Keep track of your successes
45. Make up a song about being overwhelmed and afraid
46. Do something purely relaxing
47. Verbally cheer and coach yourself along, out loud and in third person
48. Write an encouraging letter to yourself as if you were writing to a friend in your situation
49. Take one 5 minute step, any step will do
50. Sleep on it
Let me know if you try any of these or if something else works for you! Leave your thoughts in the comments!
Nice list! #16 and #50 work best for me. I wish I could do #42 more often.
Thanks, Shweta!
HI Varonica – love your work – it’s so empowering to stop and actually embrace (hug) our fears – Awesome!!
Thanks,
Bren
Thank you, Bren! I’m glad you find Hug Your Fear so helpful!!!!
51. Read a list of things to try when you feel too overwhelmed to. . . .
GREAT post. I found the ones that i wouldn’t normally have thought of —
write a poem
create a song
write a love letter
etc.,
to be especially useful. I’ve heard the standard ones a thousand times now — to the point they actually evoke a negative response — like with Pavlov’s dogs. I’ve failed to follow up on these things soooooo 😦 many times that i just associate them with failure and hard work.
But i can write a poem or sing a song or dance.
Thanks.
Thanks Mark! I’m glad you found the list helpful! Thanks for adding to it! Here’s to more dancing, and singing and poetry! 😀