Did you think I haven’t written for so long because I was procrastinating? Not true! I’ve been so busy doing my “worst first” and “most important” that I haven’t made it to “write a blog post.”

You may think I’ve been a whirlwind of activity, but that’s not true either. Sometimes it takes me until noon to work up the courage to tackle my worst first. Sometimes I pray some Scripture, get in the mood to tackle the list, and then get side-tracked by something else and have to start all over again.

What’s happening is that I’m making slow (very slow) and steady (shaky steady) progress. I even did one item in my paperwork drawer that I’d been procrastinating for four years. Yes, you heard me right, that was four years. Are you beginning to feel better about your own procrastination habits?

Every time I do one of those dreaded items, I feel a sense of relief. Even though I don’t think about those things on a regular basis, they’re in the back of my mind, draining my energy, and keeping me from doing other things I should be doing. It’s an incredibly freeing sensation to get them accomplished.

Let me show you one of my journal entries about procrastination. I could have written this exact same entry about emotional eating a couple years ago, so if you’ve got it all together in the “getting things accomplished” department, see if you can apply it to your struggle with emotional eating. (I’ll put the truths right under each lie, so it will be easier to follow.)

1. It’s terrible that I didn’t finish my to-do list. (If this were about emotional eating, I would have said, “It’s terrible that I ate so much yesterday,” or something along those lines.)
Truth: It’s not surprising I didn’t finish it. After all, I’m just learning. If I were perfect from here on out, I couldn’t have been much of a procrastinator in the first place. Change doesn’t happen in an instant.

2. I will never catch up.
Truth: I won’t catch up if I only work on this in my own strength. But if I continue to renew my mind and see this problem through God’s eyes, He will change me.

3. I am too inept.
Truth: God can transform inept. His power is made perfect in my weakness.

4. I think I’m doing well, and then I fail again.
Truth: Duh—that’s what change is—I can’t expect to succeed without failing time and time again. Remember the figure skater. (They have to fall a bunch of times if they want to execute the perfect jump.)

5. It’s hopeless. I should just give up.
Truth: On the contrary, it's incredibly hopeful. If I turn to God in this trial, He will change me. It may take awhile, but it will happen. My only chance for hope is to keep trying and to try in His strength.

How many entries like this will it take to conquer procrastination? I don’t know.

But I’ll keep making those entries and praying those Scriptures, until my natural reaction to procrastination is to turn to God rather than food or some other form of entertainment.

Because He’s the only “escape” that will make me get back to work!