Articles
Snapping the Rubber Band
Snapping the Rubber Band
Odis Duncan
Several months ago, I heard Peter Sage (life coach) address the question: Why do smart people procrastinate? His answer was fascinating and, being one who thinks in pictures, it immediately painted an image in my brain. The answer, according to him, has two parts.
A – Our nerves are wired for comfort. That is why new experiences, moments that might include a measure of danger, forays outside our comfort zones, etc. produce anxiety/panic attacks in varying degrees of severity. Some lock up completely; ceasing to function. Others may enter a full-blown state of fight or flight. Most, however, function normally and handle these moments somewhere in between these extremes. Regardless of where one falls on the spectrum, however, most of us have situations that automatically trigger some level of anxiety – increased heart rate, breathing changes, spikes in bp, sweats, nervousness, etc. Why? These things happen because our nerves are wired for comfort – familiarity. Therefore, when something invades that comfort zone, or one ventures out of it, our nerves are activated, and our minds and bodies react; hoping to either repel the invader or make us so uncomfortable we move back into our circles.
B – Our souls are wired for growth. From the moment we are born we want to learn – sit up, crawl, walk, talk. We want to explore beyond our cribs and baby beds. If we think of this in spiritual terms, God made us with innate desires to seek Him, experience Him and grow close to Him through the process of maturing into the image of His Son.
Question: Where does that leave us? Sage says it leaves us on the hamster wheel of life. We waffle between comfort and growth, struggling to balance the two. In other words, we procrastinate. Jesus says it this way, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” This is where my picture forming mind took over. I saw my nerves anchored in the middle of my comfort zone with my soul tethered to them by a rubber band. As my faith grows and my desire to step out of the boat increases, I begin to stretch the rubber band. My nerves, however, being anchored in the center of comfort zone, continue to resist. They continue to try to pull me back into my world of comfort, ease, security and complacency. As I see the realities of life (winds and waves), that pull increases proportionately. Now…here is the thing – what happens if you stretch a rubber band to its limit? It either contracts and pulls the opposing object back to its starting point, or it snaps. Therefore, if I am going to continue to grow, walk by faith, explore beyond my comfort zone and strive to reach my potential, I must continue to stretch the rubber band until it snaps. That does not mean there will not be experiences that test my limits – THERE WILL BE, because I am human. Hopefully, however, my circle will grow as I stretch the rubber band, so even steps backward do not result in my stumbling all the way back to where I started.
