My friend Hannah did a post on ANTs and I thought it was SO fitting with what I have been feeling lately that I decided I would write one of my own. So what kind of Ants am I talking about? Fire Ants? Carpenter Ants? Little black picnic Ants? No. These ANTs are much closer to home and here is a secret: we all have them.... Automatic Negative Thoughts, or ANTs. kinda like ROUS', except these rodents of unusual size exist within our brains. The ANTs I have been plagued with lately are: I am not accomplishing anything that I set out to do. I haven't been good enough with exercising the past few weeks. Ok, by not good enough I really mean that I haven't seen the inside of my gym in two weeks, and now I don't think I will reach my weight loss goal for family pictures at the end of November. I have an arbor in my backyard that my dad and I are building. We are rushing to get it done before it gets too cold and wet/snowy to finish it and yet, knowing that we are in a time crunch with the weather I can't seem to make myself go out and paint the last few boards. I leave dishes in my sink, which I hate. Not having a clean house completely sets me off in a bad mood and yet I cannot seem to find the motivation to clean it. I have so many ideas in my head of next chapters and new stories that I want to write and yet when I sit down, I don't seem to actually type any words. I don't think I let my husband know I appreciate him for the little things enough. I haven't finished one of my monthly projects at work yet. These are the ANTs that seem to have paralyzed me into a disturbing lapse of apathy lately. So what do you do when you get an attack of the ANTs? What are some tricks you all have found to get you from not focusing on the ever growing and sometimes seemingly insurmountable ANTs that march across your brain telling you that you will never be good enough or do enough or accomplish enough? Let me know, because I feel like I could use the help.