How to know if you have to do a non-essential task. Or not.
Alright, you don’t like doing the essential tasks. Like running errands. No one does. Yet your bills have to get paid. Your meals are going to prepare themselves. Unfortunately.
Say there’s a trip you really don’t want to go on, or even an outing. To a relative’s house for dinner.
You dread this event so much, the point of faking an illness sounds more appealing than going. Just the thought of this event makes you want to cry or go fetal as your entire body tenses up.
You want to know something? That’s your body telling you it’s a bad idea to go. And no. You do not have to go.
Story time: I used to go visit a relative who lives in a town that I used to live in. Where I was MISERABLE. To the point I couldn’t wait to get out. Running, hell bolting, to save my sanity isn’t an exaggeration. Soon after I moved there, I decided when I’d be leaving.
Those plans were no secret.
Once I left, I still went back once a year to visit my relative for more years than I’m willing to think about. Can’t begin to tell you how much I did not look forward to the trip. Not ever. Not even in the slightest way.
“That’s what family is for.”
At one time, maybe. Not any more. Could they do the same for you? Would they? If the answer is No, stop making yourself miserable. Stop spending your precious energy that you get little ROI for. If you need more than five minutes to recover your energy from this event, it’s not worth going. (More on how to tell what draining events you need to do later. Hint: unpleasant conversations.)
While I still care for this relative and wish them the best, I never looked forward to the trip. Every fiber in my body cringed when thinking about this annual trip. Yet I still went. For the usual reasons: To be nice, visiting this relative. (Family. Am I right?) Eventually I stopped going. If you’re wondering, No. I don’t miss going.
Have an event you’re not sure about going to? Let’s discuss in the comment section.
Reinventing yourself 
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