Fighting Anxiety & Procrastination by Giving Myself Accountability (hopefully, this one will stick)

Once again, I have found myself in need of some accountability to keep up with the things in my life that are hard, like exercising, tidying, and writing *facepalm* I’ve tried giving myself monetary rewards (too expensive), food rewards/coping mechanism (oops, gained 10 lbs), and various schedules that I stick to for a week and then inevitably drop. After a long stretch of feeling like a failure–yet again–discouraged, I talked to my counselor about it, and she encouraged me to keep hunting for accountability, and after a few good suggestions, I was motivated and ready to climb back on the wagon! But how to motivate myself in a new way?

So I was fighting my daily anxiety by letting myself futz around on Instagram when I saw a friend of mine was going to be using Instagram Stories to keep herself accountable for exercising. I have wanted to use an accountability system on social media before, but I didn’t want my repetitive posts about keeping with my habits to get boring or to pile up. However, Instagram Stories are kind of ideal for this!

As a social media manager, I like to at least experiment with the up-and-coming social platforms, but I had a very short love affair with Snapchat. (Probably because I’m an old lady set in my ways.) So I was excited when Instagram took that idea and moved it to an app I was already using ^_^ I was a slow adapter to Instagram Stories, but once the archive feature for temporary stories came into being, I jumped in head-first! I didn’t want to create content and then send it into the aether without being able to reference it later, and now my usage barrier was gone!

I’m actually surprised I didn’t do something like this sooner! But I guess the timing and situation feel more right than they ever did. So, if you’re interested in keeping me accountable, or just keeping an eye on my journey, check out my daily Instagram stories, or the Highlights section called “Goals” for the best posts.

I’m excited to see if this thing works! I also intend to do a lot of praying for help and grace, because mental illness sucks, and I need Jesus’ help every day, definitely when I’m feeling anxious and trying to avoid tasks because they scare or intimidate me.

And if you’re reading this and feel guilty because you’ve fallen back on your own goals, or are feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, I have been there. HECK, I’m still there! But here are some colorful animals by The Latest Kate that have encouraged me today (more info at this link):

Also I loved what this article said at the end, so I’m going to steal it:

If you’re living with anxiety, it’s important to know that there are ways to manage it more regularly. If your anxiety becomes debilitating, it’s important to seek help from a mental health professional. Reading uplifting cartoons are a great momentary antidote (as are these other psychiatrist-backed ways to handle anxiety when it pops up), but nothing substitutes for good care or treatment. Feeling better is totally possible.

Huffpost, “18 Illustrations Every Person With Anxiety Should See Immediately”