I've been under heavy amounts of stress lately from heavy amounts of procrastination. I keep trying to force myself to do what I need to do but everything just feels so pointless that I feel like there's no reason to carry on further. I just wish that everything would blow over and it will be alright afterwards but I know that it just doesn't work like that. I feel like everything needs to be perfect. I think nothing has any real meaning to me anymore and I really don't know what to do about it. But, on a different note, this place has brought me a ton of joy in the short time I've been here and I couldn't be more grateful for that.
I am a grand procrastinater, so I get it. It's gotten a lot better in the last couple of years (after getting really bad for awhile).
How better? Well, I procrastinate on smaller parts of things, and I do a lot more planning, maintenance, and monitoring on an ongoing basis, so I'm not actually starting from zero when I get around to dealing with something I don't want to do.
But the biggest change is that I - earlier and earlier - turn and face it. It's not going away. So I force myself to do actual, move-it-forward work. I don't sit and try to wish it away, and I acknowledge what I'm doing (avoid) and what I've learned about why I do it. And armed with that, it is easier to say, okay, FINE, dammit, I'll just do this thing.
And I don't bludgeon myself
quite so much about the drivers that underlie the avoidance. I reflect about why I'm edgy, then when I've realized what's going on, I am less hamstrung by it and can force myself through.
It helps, too, to (truly) know why you're actually needing to do the things, how succeeding or failing will actually impact your PERSONAL goals. Hard to do if you're feeling like you wrote - that nothing matters. And so maybe if you can get a few days' break, or otherwise carve out some time to think, you can search and figure out what matters to you and then orient your life toward that.
The more you push past it, with time & repetition, seeing that you actually can do the things without dying is also reinforcing.
It can also help to understand and agree that being "perfectly perfect in every way" isn't always necessary. Often there are many opportunities to correct minor errors or misses later (in the work world, anyway... depending on what you do). I'm still learning that after 30 years (thank you, highly dysfunctional past places of work), but though I still quasi-frequently stay up all night to produce a perfect product, I have learned to let go of a good amount of it. Sometimes getting it done on time and serviceable >>>>>>>>> being late with a perfect product. "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" is practical wisdom. If you struggle with perfection holding you back from pulling the trigger, make that your mantra.
Try to let go of identifying with the project/task, whether work or personal. Doing something is a task - it's not
you. Put it in its place.