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Procrastination Isn’t Laziness — It’s Nervous System Overload
- Karma Penguin
- Jan 11
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 11
When I wake up in the morning, I don’t see a clean slate.
I see the house.
Laundry piling up.
Things that still haven’t been put away.
Returns that need to be made.
Veggies that have to be chopped.
Dinner that needs to be figured out.
Work tasks waiting quietly — but loudly — in the background.
And when I look at it all at once, it doesn’t feel like a to-do list.
It feels like standing at the base of Everest.
I’m at the very bottom, looking up at everything that needs to be done, and before I even start — I’m already overwhelmed.
So I freeze.
Not consciously.
Not intentionally.
I just… don’t move.
And then come the reasons.
I’ll do it later.
I’ll have more energy later.
I’ll feel more motivated later.
I’ll start once things feel clearer.
Usually after my beautiful, lifesaving Nespresso makes me a coffee or cappuccino.
And yes — it’s so important to my life that I have two machines.
The OG and the new one.
Or, as I lovingly call them: Nessie and Nessoo.
I tell myself then I’ll be ready.
After the coffee.
After the caffeine hits.
After I feel more like myself.
But the truth is, even with a perfect cup in my hands, the mountain is still there.
The Freeze → Panic Cycle
If there’s a big work project I don’t want to do — one that feels heavy, draining, or emotionally loaded — I’ll put it off.
And put it off.
And put it off some more.
Until suddenly there’s no buffer left.
No time.
No flexibility.
No space.
And then — panic.
Everything has to be done right now.
Immediately.
All at once.
And when that panic hits, I feel it in my body.
In my chest.
In my throat.
In that tight, buzzy place where breath gets shallow and thinking gets loud.
What’s wild is that once I’m in that state — that urgency, that pressure — I find myself doing everything from there.
Even simple tasks.
Things that don’t actually have a deadline suddenly feel like emergencies.
It’s like my nervous system doesn’t know how to switch gears.
I go from freeze… straight into chaos.
No middle ground.
Procrastination Isn’t the Problem — Overwhelm Is
Procrastination isn’t a character flaw.
It's not laziness.
It's not a lack of discipline.
It’s often a freeze response.
When your system is overwhelmed by:
too many tasks
too many expectations
too many unprocessed emotions
…doing nothing can feel safer than doing something imperfectly.
So you pause.
You delay.
You scroll.
You reorganize instead of starting.
The Heaviness We Don’t Talk About
Some tasks aren’t just tasks.
They carry weight.
They ask for more energy.
More time.
More presence.
And sometimes — even when we can’t explain why — they carry emotion.
Like going through your baby’s clothes — the ones they’ve outgrown.
On the surface, it’s simple: fold, box, donate.
But underneath it?
Happiness.
Sadness.
The quiet realization that your child will never be that small again.
That deserves to be felt.
And when there’s no space for the feelings, the task gets avoided.
The Jeans We Keep “Just in Case”
Or maybe it’s those jeans.
The expensive ones.
The ones you loved.
The ones that fit a different version of you.
Bodies change.
Life happens.
Keeping them isn’t about the jeans — it’s about who you were.
You’re allowed to let them go.
It doesn’t mean you failed.
It means you’re making room.
And yes — feelings may come up.
And yes — you’ll feel lighter afterward.
When the Task Is Big Because It’s Personal
Some procrastination isn’t about clutter.
It’s about visibility.
For me, that’s been our website.
And honestly — social media.
I have family members, friends, colleagues who love to post things like:
what they ate
their coffee
their dinner
their trip
their outfit
the sale… and then the sale on sale on sale
That’s never really been me.
So when it came time to build social media for Karma Penguin, it felt big.
Not because it didn’t matter — but because it mattered more than I wanted to admit.
I made mistakes.
I landed in Instagram and TikTok jail (not intentionally — I just didn’t know).
When you don’t know how — and you’re visible while learning — procrastination becomes protection.
When Perfectionism and Procrastination Team Up
What if I start and I can’t finish?
What if I start and it’s not good enough?
What if I start and confirm I’m behind?
What if I start and confirm I can’t do it?
So the system freezes.
Until pressure takes over.
It’s like that viral video of the woman mopping furiously — like the mop is about to launch into space and she has to finish before it does.
That’s what doing things in panic looks like.
And it’s exhausting.
There’s Nothing Wrong With You
Your nervous system is trying to protect you.
When you freeze or avoid starting, it’s not because you’re lazy. It’s because somewhere along the way your body learned that certain tasks don’t just take time — they take you.
They take energy you don’t have.
They bring up feelings you don’t feel like meeting today.
They carry that weird invisible weight that other people don’t see.
So you stall. You wander. You “just check one thing” on your phone. You tell yourself you’ll do it after coffee. (Or after Nessie and Nessoo work their magic.)
And then you feel guilty, because it looks like nothing is happening.
But something is happening.
Your system is bracing.
A lot of us were trained to move through life with pressure:
deadlines
urgency
consequences
the fear of being behind
And sure… pressure can work. For a while.
But eventually your body stops hearing, “Let’s do this,” and starts hearing, “If you don’t do this, something bad will happen.”
That’s not motivation. That’s threat.
And when your body feels threatened, it doesn’t get productive — it gets protective.
So if you’re stuck, maybe the answer isn’t pushing harder.
Maybe it’s making things feel 5% safer first.
Not a whole transformation. Not a perfect routine.
Just enough safety to take the smallest step without going straight into panic.
Because when the body softens even a little, movement comes back online.
Not rushed.
Not perfect.
Just… possible.
And honestly? That’s enough to begin.
A Nervous System Reset (from The Karma Kickstart)
This isn’t a big practice or anything time-consuming.
It’s the kind of gentle nervous system reset I built The Karma Kickstart around — because when overwhelm or freeze sets in, the body usually needs safety before it can do anything else. If this kind of support feels helpful, you can join the waitlist for The Karma Kickstart, dropping later this week.
Here’s one simple way to meet yourself where you are:
Sit or stand exactly where you are — don’t change anything yet.
Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly.
Inhale slowly through your nose.
Exhale through your mouth, like you’re gently fogging a mirror.
Ask yourself: “What feels heavy right now — the task, or the feeling attached to it?”
Name it silently. No fixing. No solving.
That’s it.
If your body feels even 5% safer, starting becomes possible.
You don’t need pressure.
You need enough safety to begin.
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