I want to write.
But, I look at the page. I look at the page and there's nothing there.
I look at the page, there's nothing there, and I feel like there should be. I can almost feel what it should be.
Almost see what the words are.
But I can't make the words happen.
I want to do something else.
Where's my phone?
It's time to go to the gym.
Ugh.
I better do it.
I better get going.
Look at me ... sitting on my butt ... getting going to the gym.
I don't even know where my gym clothes are.
I probably don't have the time.
I should do something more productive.
What am I going to do at the gym anyway? Squats?
Hmm,
I wonder if I had lifting shoes if that would go better.
Let me see how much those are ...
Sometimes,
Problems where you can't seem to focus on what you really want or what really matters look like dopamine problems.
Problems when you're trying to do something new, something different. Instil a new habit. Change something about your life. Create something new.
I can distract myself on the phone instead of writing.
I can search for lifting shoes instead of going to the actual gym and lifting weights in what I have.
And I might look at this and think,
"I need to not succumb to easy dopamine."
But there's another force at work. It is sinister perhaps. But it is not evil. It comes from a part of us that doesn't want to see us hurt. Doesn't want to see us change.
It's an old part.
And unfortunately in order to become the best versions of ourselves,
We HAVE to change.
We HAVE to risk hurting ourselves.
This isn't a Dopamine problem1 ... although succumbing to easy Dopamine is a delectable feast this force likes to dangle in front of us.