6 things I’m too scared to do
Tell me if I should get over it and just do them
This started out kind of silly as I was scrolling through weeks and weeks of browser history to find a specific link, and it morphed into some more serious confessions. Come at me with your spicy takes on what you think I should do.
Clear my browser history
I am an avid user of command + T for a new tab and then typing in keywords and clicking down to find the right webpage out of my browser history. Clearing my browser history feels like a good housekeeping task but I’m so scared of doing it because then I’d be absolutely at a loss for how to find anything. This applies both at work and at home. Should I just do it? Or has technology progressed far enough that having an extensive browser history isn’t really slowing me down?
Tell more people how I actually feel
I take a lot of pride in doing this with my closest friends, but it drops off pretty steeply for people outside of that group. I justify this because being really open, direct and blunt with people can be taxing and requires high trust in order for it to not be misconstrued. Thus, the juice has to be worth the squeeze. However, should I be doing this with more people? Could that actually be freeing? Should I stop nodding along politely in agreement and become a vocal naysayer when I disagree?
Just stop replying to texts for a day
I feel a lot of guilt if I’m not responsive, and I also take pride in the service levels I uphold as a fellow texter. However, maybe this is not serving anyone well. I have heard repeatedly that some people find really responsive texters overwhelming because it sucks them into the vortex of rapidfire back and forth… So maybe I’ll just defect to the nonresponsive side and you’ll have to reach me by pigeon.
Admit that my superpower is delegating
I think it’s really weird to speak openly and proudly about one’s own superpowers, but maybe I should get over that. I recently realized that most people are reticent to say anything when others ask them, “What can I do to help?” whereas I’m usually the first to blurt out a list. I don’t know if it’s because I have a long to-do list in my head at all times that I can just recite, or if it’s because I’ve grown to really trust people around me to help. But I have found that I can map outstanding to-do items to people and their skills really quickly, and I’m surprisingly comfortable vocalizing this. Is it time to lean in and not feel guilty about delegating or being good at it?
Sit in peace with not having plans
It feels weird to live so open-endedly and not know what things might look like in a year or even a few months down the road. I feel inclined to book flights and hotels and to plan trips and to envision what my life will be like. But sometimes I think there’s beauty in not doing too much of this and leaving room for spontaneity.
Accept small messes
I used to be way more perfectionist than I am today, but I’m still pretty particular about small messes. For example, it really bothers me that I have a bunch of random files on my desktop and I will periodically take the time to clean them out. What’s stopping me from either accepting them as they are or just sweeping them all into a folder that’s hidden? I don’t think I believe that organizing them is necessarily making my life better, but somehow I still spend my time on it. I wonder how much time I could save by accepting small messes.