Get up.

I found myself on the couch this morning looking around at all the things I could be doing instead of just sitting. The list is endless. But getting off the couch to even start felt more like moving a mountain than just standing up.

I’ve been around enough to know that the peaks and valleys of life are what they are. It’s not going to be sunshine and rainbows all the time. If you’re me, the heavy storms of the lows loom behind the corner of every magnificent high.

It’s been awhile since I’ve found myself here- in this space, sharing the weird, vulnerable, and raw parts of myself. Self, I am sorry for the hiatus. I hate how much I put you on the back burner. This practice is good for you and it flexes muscles that makes you show up better and stronger everywhere else. Thank you for getting here today.

Back to this morning… I quite literally searched “books to get me off my ass”, then weeded through the suggestions, landing on The Five Second Rule by Mel Robbins, narrated by the author on audible.

The beginning was one of those moments where you feel like this person broke into your mind and wrote your story for you. The small details are off but the message is so clear and rings true. I don’t want to summarize her work, because it would really help anyone no matter where you are in life, but I want to share that it’s what brought me here today. Many lines punched me in the gut and woke up a part of me that has been laying dormant for far too long.

Robbins talks about being addicted to the snooze button. Although that snooze button was screwing her up in every facet, it was the one thing in her day that she felt control over. This sense of control was a type of defiance to the way she felt life was always smacking her around. As if to say everything sucks but I can still sleep in if I want to. Replace the snooze button with my couch and there you will find me, abusing this false sense of control.

Robbins constantly thought about all the ways her life would improve if she would stop with the snooze button, but each morning would come and it would be greeted with some sense of doom, which led to another smack of the snooze button thus becoming a problem for tomorrow. It is a vicious cycle. There’s no climbing out of the dark if you’re the one holding the stick beating yourself down. I’ve lost confidence in myself because I often struggle to keep up with the simple things. Things will work for me for a couple days or weeks then when the bump comes, I never find myself surviving it. I am shamefully, super skilled at wallowing and giving myself too much grace.

Mel Robbins epiphany came in the form of the 5 second rule. Her theory is that anytime any idea or motivation hits you count down from 5 then do it. She breaks down the metacognitive reasons of why this works, but the count down is actually brain science. It stops you from thinking of an excuse or fear and after 1 comes blast off- you get moving. The first step is the hardest, once you take a single step or stand up off the couch the next comes easier and easier until it becomes a habit. Our brains are wired to stop us from danger aka things that seem hard, fill us with doubt, or fear. It’s the brains way of keeping us safe. My brain feels safe sitting on the couch unchallenged, it is blasting past that comfort where magic will happen and I will see break throughs.

These small wins build up momentum and lead to massive progress. In committing to the 5 second rule this morning, my whole day has changed for the better. This is me holding myself to this practice. When I think this thing needs done, I’m not saving it for later. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1- blast off, get it done. I will ignore my reasons not to and make it happen. Be it housework, writing, a project with my kids, connections with friends or family, an errand, whatever else. I let depression and anxiety stop me too often. I hold me back. No one or no thing can hold me back other than myself. I need to get out of my own damn way. Get up.