Hi. My name is Sarah Blake and I am the owner of Blake Psychotherapy & Associates. I started this blog intending to provide enlightening and educational posts for our readers. Then I got stuck. I worried about those posts being PERFECT and the information being AMAZINGLY helpful to anyone who read it. I wanted to be PROFESSIONAL yet PERSONAL. I wanted, I wanted, I wanted. Don’t get me wrong; I still want to write well and for as many people as I can possible connected to. However, the PRESSURE to measure up was TOO MUCH! So, you may have noticed we haven’t gotten much out recently. I hope to change that. Starting today, I am going to say NO to the pressure, NO to “perfection” (even though I already know there is no such thing) and NO to shooting so high in expectations that I will never meet the mark. Instead… I will begin the process of writing blogs. I hope that some of them will provide you with useful information. I hope that you will tell me what kinds of things you would like to read about. I would love to know what you think about the blog, too. This whole blogging thing is relatively new for me. I have written blogs for years, but it is still not my original tongue so to speak. So, I am learning…. even thought I keep thinking, “I should be an EXPERT at this already!” Have you ever felt this kind of pressure? What do you do in order to not crack under it?
Is it too much pressure for me to make sure that you will be inspired and I will be inspiring?
Here are three things I do to keep myself on the right track:
1) Lower the bar — If you are reading this blog then you probably have the tendency to push yourself too hard. Sometimes the best thing is to just lower the bar and try again without all the pressure. I work a lot better when I am not pushing myself too hard. For example – In reference to writing blogs – I have decided that I need to simply write. If I do not end up liking what I put down, I can either fix it or trash it, but at least I am getting practice and I often will walk away with something I can use. When the bar is too high and I cannot reach it, sometimes it feels like it is not worth trying.
2) Relax – Those of us who have issues with pressure and find ourselves unable to move forward as a result, may need to practice relaxation in order to get to where we need to go. Relaxation could look like different things – it isn’t just laying down and closing your eyes, meditating, or taking a yoga class. Sometimes it is just taking some really deep breaths to clear your mind. Sometimes it is going from your head to your toes and tightening and then releasing each muscle as you go along. It does not have to take long, but it always helps me to clear my head, so I can move forward with what I need to do.
3) Let go – I would love to take control of every area of my life, so I can then know how everything will go. I know that this is never going to happen, I learned that lesson a long time ago. So, in order to deal with pressure, I am learning that I need to let go of the desire to control how it all goes. What does that look like? It may mean I stop worrying about what anyone else thinks of what I am producing, as long as I am doing my best. It may also mean I look at what I can control instead of what I cannot. For example, I can make sure I have done my research, or I have talked to an expert before I move forward. After that… I just work on writing and then I let it go – literally… into cyberspace and I do not hold on to it. Once it’s done, it’s done. There is so much more I have to do. I cannot stress about one thing once I have finished it or I will never be able to move forward!
Let me know what you do when you are under pressure. How do you take care of you in those circumstances?