The next time you are tempted to put off a scary, hard, or difficult task off, here’s what I want you to say yourself:

“I believe that I’m making life easier for myself. But, in the long-run, I need to remember avoiding this is only going to make life harder.”

Avoiding the task might give you a brief moment of relief. But, all too soon, that will fade, and you will be left with the anxiety that comes from avoiding it—and that’s a feeling that only gets worse with time, building and building and building until you finally deal with the task. Sometimes, in the moment where we’re tempted, we need to remind ourselves of the price we pay for avoidance.