This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “hesitation,” comes to us from Wendy. Check out her blog here!

Hesitation has to be my biggest downfall. It happens on different levels.

At the smallest level, take this post, for instance.

I got the title and the first two lines ready to go almost two hours before I finally started writing what was going to be in the body of the post.

At the most critical level (of my writing and publishing career), I tend to hesitate before I publish a book, putting it off—putting off the steps to getting ready—sometimes for months, leaving me to scramble at the last minute to get everything set to go.

I’ve often thought this might be a form of self-sabotage.

And maybe it is.

But the core reason behind my hesitation is the NEED for everything to be perfect.

And it never is and never will be.

What sucks is my hesitation causes me actual physical pain.

Before I started writing this post, my heartburn was extremely painful. Now? After, like, four minutes of writing? It’s almost gone. In fact it was gone before I started writing this paragraph, but now that I’m thinking about it … (Stop thinking about it, Linda. It’s entirely stress-related.)

So yeah. I wish there was a cure for hesitation.

For perfectionism.

And for worrying about screwing up when I’ll never know if things will go smoothly unless I actually start doing them.

This woeful post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Wendy for the prompt!