Hi Linda! I missed your intro the first time around (and actually, I wasn’t even on the forum yet at that point 
). I am so empathetic to your struggles. I don’t think I really experienced your specific challenges regarding guitar, but I have with other things. I don’t know if this is part of what’s going on for you, but for me, the longer time goes on without doing a particular thing I want to do, the more I build it up in my mind, and the harder it is to actually start it. I think one aspect is that whenever I come close to wanting to start it, those feelings actually get more intense and more painful, because at that point it’s more visceral how long I’ve actually put it off. So it’s easy just to put it off even longer because if I’m not actively thinking about it, I don’t feel those feelings so much.
So in those situations, I have to a) forgive my past selves for not having started the activity, b) realize that this is where I am right now, and that I can’t change the past, and c) view starting it now as a gift to my future selves, so to speak. If I make the sacrifice now and “bite the bullet” of experiencing those painful startup feelings, then my future selves won’t have to experience that, because at that point I will have already started and the ball will already be rolling.
Anyway, it’s obviously been several months since you had last posted. I’m sure it required a tremendous amount of courage for you to post here again!
I’m not sure if you are still experiencing the same issues, as you did start guitar for a while, but didn’t stick with it. I do like this quote from you though:
One thing I’ve happened upon recently that has really helped me with things like this, is to set a timer for one minute each day. And do the activity just for that minute. At the end of the minute when the timer goes off, I then think, “do I want to continue?” If I feel like it, I will keep going, but if I don’t, I won’t make myself. I don’t think I’ve ever just stopped after one minute (since for me at least, the hardest part is just starting), but the key for me is to truly allow myself the freedom to stop after just that one minute if I don’t in any way want to keep going. I’ve used this method to success with a number of things recently.
I think it works for me because doing just one minute in something seems achievable no matter what task I’m doing, which reduces the startup friction (which is almost always what stops me from doing something). In the past I had had tasks that I tried to do 15 minutes a day, but I did them inconsistently, since depending on how I’m feeling in a particular day, even 15 minutes can feel overwhelming, so I just wouldn’t do them at all. But (so far, at least) no matter how I’m feeling, 1 minute has always felt doable. And 1 minute+, per day, adds up over time.
Anyway, I’ve found this to be such a supportive and welcoming community! And I certainly want to try to help you by giving any kind words of encouragement that I can. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for help!
!
.
I just try and learn one new thing a day or focus on at least one technique I need to grasp and that helps me feel satisfied. 
