Five Seconds
By Suzanne
There are moments in life that take years to understand.
For me, one of them lasted only five seconds.
My daughter has recommended many books over the years. She knows me well. She handed me Mel Robbins’ The 5 Second Rule, and I thought, Really? A countdown?
Note: In The 5 Second Rule, Mel Robbins explains how you can assert agency over your life by counting down from five to one over the course of five seconds and acting when you reach one. According to Mel, you can use the rule to jump into action, be bold and follow your gut, and control impulsiveness.
It seemed almost too simple.
Five…
Four…
Three…
Two…
One…
I had no idea those five seconds would quietly direct the next chapter of my life. Not because they made me confident. Because they got me moving before my doubts had a chance to take over.
Looking back, I can see how those five seconds are hiding in so many moments.
Every morning when I practice getting down on the floor to a prone position and raising myself back up to standing without any use of my hands and arms, I am good all the way until the last push to upright. Every time I get to that point, the voice appears telling me I cannot do that final push without falling over. With the five-second countdown, no problem.
And this one is huge: when my grandson Will offered that he had a web designer who might help me create a Rebellious Aging website, which I had been longing for since before COVID, the thought of the reality of such a happening nearly had me faint in terror. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… mind shift. Bring it, Will. The rest is history. Check it out at rebelwithsuz.com.
This has been life changing in the best way.
Getting up out of bed in the morning is a tough one, but five, four, three, two, one and done.
The 5 Second Rule gave me the courage to push send on my first blog, say yes to a Rebellious Aging talk, and, this one is huge, say yes to TikTok.
Most of these moments seem quite ordinary, but they have had an extraordinary effect on me and my life. They were simply tiny decisions made before fear, terror, laziness, and hesitation had time to win.
At 84, I’ve learned something that surprised me. The biggest changes in my life did not begin with giant leaps. They began with tiny moments of courage, actually measured in seconds.
Five, four, three, two, one, JUST DO IT! The rest has a remarkable way of taking care of itself.
💚 Suz, The Accidental Blogger