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When Procrastination Is Trauma: A New Lens on Avoidance
Procrastination is often dismissed as laziness, lack of discipline, or a bad habit. But for many trauma survivors, it’s one of the most chronic, shame-filled, and debilitating struggles they face every day.
It can feel irrational, self-defeating, even humiliating. Clinicians sometimes minimize it too, treating it as a simple behavioral issue rather than a complex, protective, and adaptive strategy rooted in the past.
The word itself comes from the Latin procrastinare, meaning “to postpone until tomorrow.” Popular self-help literature from the 1970s and 1980s framed procrastination as a moral failure, a sign of laziness or lack of productivity. But what if we understood it through a trauma-informed lens?
When Something Feels Off: Let Your Body Be the Guide
If you want to heal from trauma, one of the most powerful places to begin is with your current relationships. Start by simply noticing how you feel—emotionally and physically—around the people in your life. Your body often knows the truth before your mind can catch up.
Many adult trauma survivors find themselves stuck in painful relationship patterns without realizing it. These aren’t always the obvious signs of harm like yelling or hitting. More often, it’s subtle dynamics: abandoning yourself during conversations, taking on others’ problems as your own, feeling guilt or shame when you can’t meet someone’s needs, or constantly giving without receiving in return.
So how do you know if this is happening to you?