Have you ever been too scared to move? Have you ever really experienced paralysis of a limb or limbs? What about having so much to do you can’t even begin? This week I experienced the last.
I have experienced the fear thing. Once as a kid a big dog got loose ran straight for me. I stopped, my hand went up to my mouth, turned palm out, and I screamed. The owner got hold of the dog before he took a piece out of me, but it was an Adrenalin rush for sure. (One of my memories of this incident was I thought, “Wow, I did just what people in movies do, with my hand up in front of my mouth palm out.” Guess I’ve always been a bit over-dramatic.) 😊
When I woke up after my ankle surgery, I couldn’t bend my toes. No matter how hard I concentrated, the idea in my head didn’t travel to my toes. Over time, that changed, though still today, the toes on my right foot don’t bend the same way the ones on my left foot do.
Okay, that was quite a digression from what I intended to write about, which is having so much to do, your brain is paralyzed and can’t figure out what to do first.
I remember one time when our younger daughter was supposed to be packing to get ready to leave for college. When I walked into her bedroom to see how she was doing, I found her sitting in the middle of piles of clothes and stuff, doing nothing, just staring. Stressed out and overwhelmed with the task ahead for her.
That’s the way I was on Monday of this week. Too many things to do and everything needed to be done right then, which of course it can’t be. Here’s a short list:
- *Write a post for the Tuesday Sisterhood of Suspense blog.
- *Finish the Power Point for the TCU Silver Frogs course, “Indie Publishing! Who? Me?”
- *Update my website with latest book (and oh my, I discovered a bunch of missing book links!)
- *In doing the website, I found I hadn’t uploaded all my books correctly to KOBO.
- *Work on two presentations for the Same Page Book Festival in Decatur Sept. 30.
- *Get books and swag ready for the Book Signing.
- *Fixing the Sale sheets for this year for all my print books.
- *Write the post for the Thursday Blog (this one. 🙂 )
- *All the regular stuff we do to keep our home working (like grocery shopping, washing, watering the yard).
- *And fit in some exercise, at the very least my 10 K steps every day.
Marsha R. West, Author 
Oh, yes. I’ve been awake nights counting all the “to do’s” I have to get done in the morning. I discovered it is much like when I had the flower shop. No matter if I started the day with $100. worth of orders on the design table or $1000., everything was done in that day. Remember the old adage, “when eating an elephant, start with one bite at a time.Start and complete one task instead of spinning your wheels over getting everything done. You’re almost there. Enjoy your signing on the 30th! And be sure to share with us all the tips you learned by doing it. Hugs.
JQ Rose
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Hey, JQ. Oh my yes you’ve been there! That would definitely be pressure. With the $10K orders, literally finding the time to do it all. With the $100 whether you’d make enough to put food on the table! Yikes that is pressure. I’ll be sure to take pictures and share next week about the book signing. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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But what happened with the dog?
I had a similar experience when I was in high school and escorting some young children into a church for a class I can’t recall. A German shepherd ran at us barking. Channeling someone who knew what she was doing, I said in a stern voice, “Bad dog! Go home, go home.” And he did. Shocked me and the kids.
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Hey, Susan. Wow, you were really a smart thinking person. I do think I’ve heard you need to do something like that. Glad to know it worked for you. I was maybe 12 and hadn’t heard that message. I believe the owner called the dog back to his yard. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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One step at a time, that’s all you can do.
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Hey, Jacquie. You got it, and that is what I did. See, I got the blog written, and finished the TCU Frogs class, though I’ll probably tweak it all along. Thanks for stopping by.
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Hey Marsha, lists are my friends. I have one everyday usually. I pick the item that’s “due” the soonest and then the next one and the next. For about five months back in 2011 I was NT pres and band booster pres at the same time. You bet I wrote everything down and prioritized. The squeakiest wheel got the grease. Hope you’re still making progress.
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Hey, Jen. Wow, you were busy! Lists are my friends, too. Monday morning, I couldn’t even make the list. LOL Once I put it in my phone, I felt better. And, I’ve made progress, well, you just have to, you know. Time passes and gets you closer to the deadlines. Thanks so much for stopping by, Jen, and sharing. Appreciate hearing from you. 🙂
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Hi Marsha, I like JQ’s comment about the elephant. My husband always tells me exactly the same thing! 🙂 Yes, many a time I’ve been awake at night, thinking of all the things I’ve got to do. And then of course I get up in the morning feeling too tired to do any of them…
Wishing you all the best with your exciting projects. You’ll be brilliant!
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Hey, Helena. You and JQ are quite correct, just one bite at a time. I’ll feel better after tomorrow when I got to TCU with my flash drive and see how it works in the place I’ll be teaching starting Oct. 10. I just do so much better when I can visualize the location. I’m such a location person. I think I’m ready for Saturday for the book sighing. Need to do one more timing of the reading. Nothing worse than people who go over the allotted time. 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by. 🙂
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