It was a painful moment when I realized that I was living with my life on hold.

Did I mean for it to happen?

Of course not.

Was I aware of it?

No.

Until I had an experience that brought it to the light of day.

I was booked to be a guest on a podcast and it’s what I would call a stretch interview: not completely in my wheelhouse yet but a direction I am moving in.

𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, I love stretch activities and I know that they are good for me.  So, I always thought that they didn’t affect me.

I was mistaken.

The day of the interview arrived, and I felt sluggish, which is odd for me.  That made me pay attention to how I was feeling through the course of the day. 

As the interview got closer, I was hoping that the host would need to re-schedule.

She didn’t.

I showed up for the interview, had fun and it went great.  The interviewer was super happy and said that her listeners will get a ton of value.

Whew!

Relief. 

For about 20 minutes until I started focusing on the next “stretch” event on my calendar. 

Just like that, I was back on the treadmill of stress.

That’s when I realized that this is my version of the trap: “I’ll be happy when . . .”  Except, in my case, it’s a slight variation:

“I can relax when . . .” which leads to the ultimate trap of:

“I will have time to enjoy my life when . . .”

I was living with my life on hold.

I’m grateful that I had this experience so that it brought this trap into very clear focus for me. 

Now, I can do something about it.

I wanted to share it because I suspect that I’m not alone and maybe others can benefit from my discovery.