All this waiting around is getting me down.

Waiting around is getting me down.  Three full weeks since my Dad left and over a month since I got back from the buying trip.  I’m still waiting on stuff to arrive.  All the lovely things I shipped from Guatemala are sitting in a warehouse somewhere waiting for customs clearance.  Despite daily communication with my customs brokers (DHL) I don’t get the feeling we’re making any real progress.  The clearance process has been delayed multiple times due to rotation of the customs inspection crew and some back and forth as to whether a physical inspection is necessary (then open the bloody boxes already) and only god knows what else because its really hard to get a straight answer.

Cabinets, shelving and lighting for the gallery, that Dad helped me to order when he was here, have finally left the US and are slowly making their way to Roatan by ship.  They should arrive first week of May.  Best case scenario I can expect to open by mid-May.  Best case.  

A frustrating delay but I am trying to see the positive side.   I can use the time well.  There are many many things I need to be going on with before LALA gallery can open.   All of which, by the way, are carefully documented in my 30-day start-up plan, complete with deadlines and dependencies.   For example, I still need to:

• Design, build and launch the website.  
• Create the written material (the stories behind the art) for the gallery display.  
• Frame the paintings. 
• Finalise inventory records and pricing.  
• Price and tag everything.
• Catch up my blog from my crazy illegible handwritten notes taken during the buying trip (this is probably the least essential item but the one that Im most annoyed at having let slide). 

A lengthy list.  Important activities that must be completed before I open.  Creative fun things that I really love doing.  Knowing all this it’s very hard for me to explain why, for the last three weeks, I have done very little except: 

• Clean my house  (like every day from top to bottom).  
• Take the dogs for loooong walks on the beach (dogs have never been happier).
• Go snorkeling.  
• Shop for and prepare complicated healthful meals.
• Make countless cups of tea. 

When I force myself to sit down in front my macbook it goes something like this.  Open a new document in “Pages” and decisively write the title.   Stare at otherwise blank page.  Atl-Tab to Facebook and check whose status has changed. Check inbox for new messages.  Back to “Pages”. Stare at blank screen.  Atl-Tab to FB and check who is online.  Chat.  Back to Pages.  Write a sentence.  Delete.  Rewrite. Delete.  Flip back to FB.  Open a new Safari tab - read something about the Maya in search of inspiration (or Olmec, or Zapotec or......). Alt-tab back to FB. Get up and make a cup of tea.  Notice the floor could use a sweep.  And so on.  

My focus and motivation for LALA has been declining by the day leaving plenty of empty space for my doubts and fears to creep in.  I feel lethargic and start to loose my faith in the whole concept.   I HATE feeling and thinking like this.  What can I do to snap out of it?  

Long walks with the dogs. Just one of my procrastinating techniques.