“How to Partner With Procrastination”

Photo by Andrey Svistunov on Unsplash

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I watched a squirrel fall 60 feet through the air and hit the ground this morning.

Two squirrels were making a ruckus high up in the trees, and it was exactly when I looked up that one of them dropped through the air.

I thought it was a huge pine cone until it hit the ground, bounced and became a squirrel leaping onto the trunk of the closest tree, perhaps stunned but remarkably alive. It was shocking.

Falling can be terrifying. You have no control; and zero certainty.

The same is true of the creative process—it requires you to commit to the liminal space between the known and the not-yet-manifest, and demands you surrender control.

Relief turned to curiosity. How could this tiny creature survive a fall from that height?

Dr. Cheryl Miller, a certified wildlife biologist and expert on squirrel behavior says: "Squirrels are nimble creatures and they're very good at landing on their feet." When they fall, squirrels spread their limbs wide to increase air resistance and hit the ground like a bushy-tailed pancake. This helps spread the force of the impact over a greater area to prevent injury.

Here's the most intriguing part:

TERMINAL VELOCITY

"The squirrel may be one of the biggest animals that can survive a fall from any height thanks to the laws of physics. When an object is in free fall, it has two opposing forces acting on it – gravity (which pulls it down) and aerodynamic resistance (which pushes it up).

Aerodynamic resistance is the force acting on an object that is moving through space. The air resists the object's movement, slowing it down by friction created as the object collides with air molecules. At some point during the fall, these opposing forces will balance, and the speed of the fall will stabilize.

Terminal velocity is the maximum speed a particular object will reach during a fall, and it's the sweet spot where falling and resistance merge into flow.

Thanks to its low rate of terminal velocity (25 mph), the squirrel can stabilize its speed within the first three seconds of a fall and will then travel at the same speed regardless of whether it falls from a tree or the stratosphere."

Thanks for capturing my attention acrobatic falling squirrel, and teaching me something I never knew! And for causing me to wonder:

WHAT IF THIS IS A METAPHOR FOR THE CREATIVE PROCESS?

You set out full of enthusiasm, the creative field calling you forward (falling into inspiration) and then you encounter the rising force of resistance (fear, doubt, second-guessing) and you think you have to struggle with that resistance in order to keep going.

But what if you don't?

What if, when you feel the resistance rise, you let yourself fall into it, pay attention, and wait.

Wait until you can feel the resistance and your creative urge meet—and as they make contact, make space for that interaction to stabilize.

You don't have to leave; get the laundry going, search the cupboards for snackage, scroll your socials.

You could stay put, feel the meeting of these inevitable forces as a sweetspot, and lean into the block pause to:

• regulate confronting emotions

• intuit the feedback your work is offering

• reconnect with the flow of your creative impulse

• adjust your tack

• align with the sweet spot of your terminal creative velocity

No problem here, just flow meeting resistance. Life, doing what it does.

You too can learn from the wonder of acrobatic falling squirrels.

Trust you are made for bold, daring and impressive leaps of faith—and get on with getting the magic of you into the world.

Photo by Transly Translation Agency on Unsplash

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