On flakiness & devotion.

I have written, deleted, re-written, almost-published, scrapped, then re-created this post — at least half a dozen times.

I almost deleted it again today. But the words keep tugging at my heart. Something needs to be said.

People, we need to stop flaking out.

We need to stop …

– Promising to meet up with friends, family, colleagues, lovers… and then bailing.

– Registering for experiences we can’t really afford… financially, energetically, spiritually, whateverishly.

— Rescheduling, postponing, procrastinating, slipping out the back door… looking for loopholes in the fine print.

— Treating last-minute text messages as an instant escape-hatch… for anything we suddenly decide we don’t wanna do.

— Inconveniencing the people we care about most, because they love us, they’ll understand… and we can “get away” with it.

— Promising ourselves that we’ll take a vacation, turn off the computer, hit the yoga mat, and then… not doing it.

We need to stop.

Because it’s gross.

More than anything? It’s just unnecessary.

With a modicum of self-inquiry and honesty (“Can I really devote to this? Do I really want this? Can I really afford this?”) we can avoid 99.9% of eventual flakedom.

Emphasis on we. You and me. We’re in this together.

This post is not a finger wag, or a public scolding. It’s a call to greater integrity and devotion — and I’m including myself in the call.

Right now, today, I’m making a promise.

The next three times I want to flake out, I won’t.

The next three times that I’m feeling tired, scared, bored or lazy, I’ll show up anyway.

Because I am that powerful. Because devotion is sexy. Because it’s simple. Because I can.