What Are You Avoiding?

[veggiewolf]

Spinning off from this thread, some of us thought it might be interesting to start a thread about the religious/spiritual things we know we need to do but, for one reason or another, are avoiding.

So: what are you avoiding?  Do you want to stop?  If so, do you have a plan?  If not, why not?

[Altair]

So: what are you avoiding?  Do you want to stop?  If so, do you have a plan?  If not, why not?

 
Finishing my book of myths. In my head, the myths are all perfect and can continue to evolve; part of me is acting like once I finish the "last one" (which is almost done), they'll be frozen in amber for all time in an imperfect form.

Which is crap.

So I've given myself until the summer solstice to wrap this up.

[Sarah]

Spinning off from this thread, some of us thought it might be interesting to start a thread about the religious/spiritual things we know we need to do but, for one reason or another, are avoiding.

So: what are you avoiding?  Do you want to stop?  If so, do you have a plan?  If not, why not?

 
Body work/energy work. Both learning to center/ground/breath/meditate etc and working on getting my body fit (and "fit" in this context is "getting in the best physical emotional shape I can be, has nothing to do with what the world thinks about fitness.) Which is something Morrigan is pretty much demanding of me.

I'm avoiding it because I know there will be a lot of emotional fall out, and even though I know that I can't heal that without doing the body work and in the end it will really be worth it  I really don't want to deal with the pain (man, I sound like a whiny child here)

I'm still formulating a plan. Though having written it out like that has really motivated me to just get on with it

[Jack]

Spinning off from this thread, some of us thought it might be interesting to start a thread about the religious/spiritual things we know we need to do but, for one reason or another, are avoiding.

So: what are you avoiding?  Do you want to stop?  If so, do you have a plan?  If not, why not?

Mara is an immensely practical goddess, and has been pushing me towards entrepreneurship for a while now. It seems really overwhelming on top of full time office work and full time school, and it doesn't help that I'll decide on an idea for a business, then do almost nothing, then get distracted by the next shiny idea.

There's other things leading toward the same big picture foals that I am doing, like changing my shopping habits, and some I'm still avoiding, like having conversations with my wife about certain budget changes. That last one is totally on me and not her, too, since she's been on board with everything so far.

(It doesn't help that this is not nearly as glamorous or esoteric as most of what I read about online so I feel weird talking about it.)

[Varian]

So: what are you avoiding?  Do you want to stop?  If so, do you have a plan?  If not, why not?

 
The Morrigan's been pushing me to write more.  

I'm scared.  I know there's going to be emotional fallout from this.  The story that's stuck in my mind cuts close to home.  Very close.

I've discovered that I have no sovereignty over my writing.  I can't say "this is my writing, take it or leave it."  I make excuses for the fact that I write about Gods, monsters and deals with Death--I cannot write about ordinary humans, there must be magic and/or otherworldly beings of some kind within my stories.

I'm wondering why I can't accept that.

[Cabal]

Spinning off from this thread, some of us thought it might be interesting to start a thread about the religious/spiritual things we know we need to do but, for one reason or another, are avoiding.

So: what are you avoiding?  Do you want to stop?  If so, do you have a plan?  If not, why not?

Probably fully excepting my faith, and letting the outside world know who I truly am!

[IceAngie]

So: what are you avoiding?  Do you want to stop?  If so, do you have a plan?  If not, why not?

 
I'm avoiding the research I need to do for my blog (if you want the link, it's there in my signature *points*). It was suppossed to be a blog about gods and goddesses, and every now and then some thoughts about my spirituality. But with the Pagan Blog Project, I lost the point. :/ Now, I'm not sure what I want to do about that.

Another thing that I'm avoiding is studying about Goddess Spirituality. I've always been interested in it, and I have some books waiting for me to sit and read them. I started with one of them, but every time I want to work on that I'm tired or bored or whatever and decide to do something else instead.

And I'm doing this huge cross-stitch project for Hera... that I'm not actually doing.

Plus, as I said on the other thread, life keeps getting in the way. Lately I spend most of the day and night in the hospital taking care of my dad, and there's not much I can do there. Every time I try to do anything, he asks for something, or the nurses come to check, or the man that's on the other bed (there are two beds on every room) gets visitors and I can't focus in what I'm doing.

[Altair]

I make excuses for the fact that I write about Gods, monsters and deals with Death--I cannot write about ordinary humans, there must be magic and/or otherworldly beings of some kind within my stories.

I'm wondering why I can't accept that.

What's to excuse? I don't excuse myself for speaking English; it's my native tongue, the language I'm most comfortable communicating in. For people like you and me (and Ray Bradbury and Jorge Luis Borges and lots of other literary luminaries, I might add), an element of the fantastical is how we process ideas, the language in which we're most comfortable communicating.

Nothing to apologize for there.

[Laveth]

Spinning off from this thread, some of us thought it might be interesting to start a thread about the religious/spiritual things we know we need to do but, for one reason or another, are avoiding.

So: what are you avoiding?  Do you want to stop?  If so, do you have a plan?  If not, why not?

 
It's not entirely spiritual in the sense of mystical/belief-oriented obligations. But I think it still counts.

I'm avoiding (and have been avoiding for a very long time) dealing with an event, and a series of subsequent events, that happened awhile ago that have left me rather... unwilling to look at, address, and deal with certain aspects of my life and my sanity. I have tried in the past to look at it, to deal with it, but the truth is that I've been so afraid to let go of the things that I'm scared to lose to even look at it objectively.

Now that I'm on a much-needed vacation and halfway across the world from my place of employment, from my unhealthy connections, and from anyone who can even dane to contact me without my say-so... I can finally start to let go of... everything. Including that pesky will to survive, to persevere, and to beat the odds stacked against me. So I am letting go, I am accepting things that have been glaringly obvious but I've been unwilling to look at, and I am starting to take stock of what I do have, what I don't, what I don't want, what I can let go of permanently, what is just... inaccurate and deluded and helps no one, and how best to move forward in a way that doesn't threaten my livelihood, my family or my sanity. It's a lot of work to do in 2 weeks, but even if I can remove the major blockage that's been preventing it for so long, it will help me be able to continue the work when I return to that illusion-diseased civilization.

Also, I need a better job. :p

/end rant.

[ecotopian]

So: what are you avoiding?  Do you want to stop?  If so, do you have a plan?  If not, why not?

I have been trying to write a book for a while.  It's all done in my head, it's the getting it down on paper, or should that be pixels?    I'm either somewhere online or taking pictures of really cool clouds over the hills in front of my house. I don't consider my horseback riding lessons part of the avoidance, though.  That's therapy for me.

[MadZealot]

Finishing my book of myths. In my head, the myths are all perfect and can continue to evolve; part of me is acting like once I finish the "last one" (which is almost done), they'll be frozen in amber for all time in an imperfect form.

Which is crap.

So I've given myself until the summer solstice to wrap this up.

Have you thought of typing it up in Word or something similar?  When your myths evolve, all you need to do is open the doc and make the necessary clarifications.  (And if you want, you can archive older copies to track when and how-- and why-- the legends began to live on their own.)  
That way you can establish 'the story so far' while allowing your mythos to be the living work that it needs to be.

[MadZealot]

I have been trying to write a book for a while.  It's all done in my head, it's the getting it down on paper, or should that be pixels?  

I've got a couple of those rolling around in the old noggin.  What has worked for me most recently is a break from routine-- I'm leaving the house with an journal and without the laptop.  Writing it out longhand makes me really think about what I'm putting down, and since paper doesn't connect to wifi I'm not distracted by photos of puppies.

[Altair]

Have you thought of typing it up in Word or something similar?  When your myths evolve, all you need to do is open the doc and make the necessary clarifications.  (And if you want, you can archive older copies to track when and how-- and why-- the legends began to live on their own.)  
That way you can establish 'the story so far' while allowing your mythos to be the living work that it needs to be.

Yup, that's what I've done. When I say it's nearly finished, I mean that setting it down on paper (or rather, in Word) is almost complete. So it's really a matter of fear--a mental trepidation about being done with something I've been carrying around with me for 30 years.

But what's bullshit about that is that new myths can always be added later, and the existing myths will no doubt be revised. And nothing is ever perfect; perfect is the enemy of the good, and all that. So let us be done with it, and see what comes next.

[Altair]

I've got a couple of those rolling around in the old noggin.  What has worked for me most recently is a break from routine-- I'm leaving the house with an journal and without the laptop.  Writing it out longhand makes me really think about what I'm putting down, and since paper doesn't connect to wifi I'm not distracted by photos of puppies.

I've found this works for me as well.

[Sophia C]

So: what are you avoiding?  Do you want to stop?  If so, do you have a plan?  If not, why not?

1. Making oaths.

2. Yes. If I want to move on, I have to get out of the car park and onto the highway.

3. ...sort of? I need to write an actual plan down, with dates on which I'm going to do certain things. Right down to 'write the liturgy for a sodding ritual'.

4. Because I'm afraid of commitment. (I'm a lesbian, so that's funny. Ahem.) And also afraid of work. The slightly cryptic thing I was asked to do - whatever else it means, it definitely means work. Dammit. I like resting.

Regardless, I will make a plan. That always helps with avoiding of the things.