As a child of the ‘80s, I was, (of course), a fan of Captain Kangaroo. I fondly remember Captain Kangaroo reading books from the Sweet Pickles series of children’s books.
In each book of The Sweet Pickles series, the main character gets into a “pickle,” (or difficult situation.)
One character I completely identified with was Goose, from the book, “Goose Goofs Off.” Surrounded by pressing issues she really needs to address, Goose was overwhelmed by life. She knew what she needed to do, but the motivation to get moving and actually do something just wasn’t there.
Laying in her hammock while things get worse, she would declare page after page, “I’m Taking It Easy Today, I’ll Do It Tomorrow.”
For years, that was my pickle when it came to my health: procrastination.
I knew things were getting worse: my back and joints hurt, I experienced so much swelling, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to carry my excess 100 pounds to work. Yet, I decided day-after-day to put off getting serious about getting well.
By the end of the book, goose decides to procrastinate on procrastination, putting her laziness on the back burner in order to be present for her friends and family. And essentially I did the same thing, pushing pause on my excuses and losing more than 100 pounds.
Weirdly, though, laziness is tenacious. It works hard to creep into the vulnerable nooks and crannies of my health goals. And, I definitely see it rearing its ugly head once again in this season.
The world seems upside down, there is a stack of work to be done, it’s hot outside, it’s raining…(it’s raining, and it’s raining some more)…the opportunities to delay my exercise, push pause on my meal prep and loosen the reigns on my health goals are seemingly never ending.
It is not challenging to lay back in Goose’s hammock and decide tomorrow would be a more favorable day to get back on track. The problem is, with each tomorrow that passes, my excuses grow in strength and my resolve weakens.
That’s a very sobering thought. I don’t want to be a powerful fount of excuses with an atrophied follow-through. Actually, I want to be the complete opposite. I want to see my excuses shrivel as my determination to succeed in my health goals intensifies.
That begins with getting out of the hammock of complacency and rearranging some things I say to myself. This week, when it comes to my health goals, “I’ll Do It Today, I’ll Take It Easy Tomorrow.”
