On Tuesday I procrastinated worse than I had in months. I couldn't even approach my desk, and spent a large part of the day in bed. Not sick: just hiding. I was unhappy about this, since I have deadlines like everyone else. And a part of me was thinking things like: “This sucks.” “I'm falling further and further behind.” “I make my living helping people solve this very problem. How mortifying.” “I'm a fraud—and everyone's going to find out I'm a fraud.” (That's two giant terrors bundled into one concise package, by the way!) “What if I never recover from this and am blocked the rest of my life?” (That's called catastrophizing.) (Notice how the anxiety escalates.) Because of my experience helping myself and others through situations like this, I knew that, as tempting as it might be to just give in to an orgy of self-recrimination and panic, doing so would only make the problem worse. So I spent the day just hanging out: watching videos, reading Jane Austin for the umpteenth time (as well … [Read more...]