“I don’t wanna” energy creeps into our lives when we are trying to get something done. We may reason with ourselves to say that our feelings are valid and that there are really good reasons we don’t want to do the thing. In reality, it is reminiscent of the power plays we made as children because the only autonomy we really had was to say “No! I don’t want to!” I can see my toddlers stomping to the corner of the room, arms crossed, lips pouted.

We bring this energy into our adulthood and it pops up as an attempt to reign control over a situation that may feel overwhelming, unaligned, illogical or just plain wrong.

The good news is that as an adult, we have options beyond “I don’t wanna.” We can communicate exactly why so that we can find alternative solutions. We can seek and find other approaches. We can ask for help.

When you get to that “I don’t wanna” place, take a deep breath. Look to understand the underlying reason you don’t want to and remind yourself that you have a voice, choices and autonomy as an adult. You can shift that “I don’t wanna” energy into something that helps you towards your goals.

Sometimes checking the box is okay. Perfection can stop us dead in our tracks. If we pursue everything with the intention of doing our absolute best and achieving perfection or something pretty darn close to it, we may fail, never do the thing or collapse from pure exhaustion.

If one of those outcomes is a possibility and if it is something that must be done (because my first recommendation would be to delay it or to say “no”), then it may just be better to do it mediocrely, check the box and say – “I did it. It’s not perfect but done is better than perfect.”

This is not about phoning everything in. This is about knowing our capacity to do all the things and creating boundaries around the things that we have some flexibility with. I wouldn’t apply this to relationships but I would apply this to all the daily living and household things that we feel need to be done.

The world does not need any more overachievers. The world needs more of us to be as whole and as satisfied with life as possible.

So many of us mistakenly think if we know more, we can do/be more. We seek more information and details and facts and all the things that make our brains happy.

But, the reality is centuries of knowledge is at our fingertips. We are not lacking information nor the access to it.

What we are actually missing is knowing.

Knowing is not a thing that we can get off the shelf or order with free 2-day shipping.

Knowing is a state of being. It is trust that marvelous, invisible forces are at work. It is confidence that the knowledge is within. It is a peace within ourselves.

As I seek my next steps, I’m wrapping my head around the fact that I already know the ‘what.’ I just have to embody the knowing.

The saying goes “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

There is also a saying that goes “you will never be ready, do it anyway.”

If we are to follow these pieces of advice, the act of doing is the key. If we wait to be ready or if we wait for a sage teacher to come to us, we will be waiting forever.

We just have to do it – whatever that “it” is. And in that doing, we will signal to the Universe that we are ready for to do more. Action creates momentum which dominoes into more.

Are you ready?