Excuses, Gym, and Therapy Sessions

Let me begin by wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year! 

Did you do a double check at the blog date? Well, you're right, we are way past New Year's and this Blog was supposed to go live, like you can guess, before Christmas! 

Hmmph... Did I procrastinate writing a blog about procrastination.. maybe, maybe not.

I remember going to the gym and seeing this big white board there, where they asked people to write their reasons for skipping the gym, and the responses were like any other excuse you or I would give - "didn't wake up on time", "the gym is too close/ far" , "forgot to renew my membership in time", "I didn't feel like it" , "Let me check my finances first", "I don't know if I can do it", "I thought I would feel out of place", so on and so forth. When I took a minute, I realised I had been giving similar seemingly innocent excuses for delaying going to therapy too.

From wondering whether I would be able to find a psychologist who wasn't a part of my circle, financial considerations, how will I fit that one hour of therapy into my already jam packed schedule, what will I talk about in therapy? I've oscillated between starting and postponing therapy for a while. All the reasons felt perfectly valid on the surface. Time is limited. Money does matter. Feeling unsure or out of place is uncomfortable. But underneath these excuses, there was something else quietly at work, avoidance dressed up as practicality.

With gym, the avoidance is easier to spot. We joke about it, even celebrate it. With therapy, though, the stakes feel higher. It isn’t just about showing up physically; it’s about showing up emotionally. About being seen. About sitting with parts of yourself that you’ve learned to keep busy, productive, or postponed for “later.”

I realised my procrastination wasn’t about laziness or poor planning. It was about fear, fear of vulnerability, fear of discovering things I might not be ready to face, fear of change. Because once you start therapy, you can’t really claim ignorance anymore. You’ve opened a door, and something inside you knows that life won’t feel quite the same again. I wasn’t avoiding therapy because I didn’t value it. I was avoiding it because it mattered. Because it asked for consistency, honesty, and a kind of slowness I wasn’t used to offering myself.

And yet, what finally nudged me forward wasn’t a sudden surge of motivation or the perfect opening in my schedule. It was a quieter recognition: that waiting to feel “ready” was itself a form of postponing care. That I didn’t need certainty, courage, or clarity, just a willingness to begin imperfectly. And with that, I started therapy sessions.

Procrastination, I’m learning, is rarely about time. It’s often about tenderness. About the parts of us that are asking for gentleness, not discipline. And sometimes, the most radical thing we can do is stop negotiating with our fears and simply say: I deserve support, even now.

So if you’ve been delaying something that matters—therapy, gym, rest, creativity, change, maybe this is your gentle reminder. Not to rush. Not to shame yourself. Just to notice. And to take even the smallest possible step forward.

After all, this blog still got written. Just a little later than planned! :) 

About the Author:

Isha Kulkarni is a final year Bachelor's student specialising in Psychology at Kaveri College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Pune. She has pivoted from finance to studying psychology after completing her Bachelor of Commerce and CA IPCC because she finds the human mind more fascinating than numbers. Currently, she works at The Secret Ingredient as Operations Coordinator, where her past and current education and interests converge