Skip to main content

Procrastination: My Dearest Enemy


Procrastination has been my number one enemy for as long as I can remember. Yet, I haven't been able to completely cut ties with it no matter how much I've tried to. It's almost like I have attachment issues with it like none other. Like, imagine me in the place of a wife who suffers daily due to an abusive husband (which is procrastination here) yet seems to never really muster up the courage to leave him because he's all she has and all she knows. Yeah, that's the relationship I have with this unruly habit of mine.

Once you take a look at the number of alarms I set to wake up in the morning, you'll understand the grave extent of this. Even though I wish to wake up at five in the morning and be a bit more productive and peaceful right from the day's start, I snooze and I stop, I snooze and I stop, all the alarms ranging from 5:00, 5:15, 5:30 right until 7:30. It's only then that I allow myself to fully wake and it's only by my 7.45's alarm that I actually get out of bed, shower, dress, skip breakfast and run to college for my first class at 8.30 a.m. It's hectic- my head aching with all the hurry burry right at the start of a fresh day. And frustrated with it, I promise myself that tomorrow will be different. And then tomorrow comes and I'm stuck in the same loop again. And I'm aware of the fact that this happens because I go to bed late. And once again, I promise myself every single day that I'll sleep early tonight. But then the night comes and I'm wide awake like an owl, either typing away on my laptop, talking to a friend, reading a book, scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest- everything and anything but actually sleeping and getting my well-needed rest.

And if that isn't the greatest proof of it, then my ever-valuable musical instrument that I forced my parents to buy for me, which now rests in a corner of my room back in my hometown, surely is. You see, I've always wanted to learn the guitar. I've always had an unreasonable obsession with the guitarists of every band I've ever listened to. And finally, I convinced my parents to let me learn it during the course of my tenth grade (poor timing, I realise) and they bought me a fairly expensive guitar which was a prized possession of mine for like three weeks- until I lost the initial interest and started putting off my lessons and my practise sessions. It's not that I hated it once I actually started learning it (which would've been a better reason to stop) but it's just that I never made time for it. Even when I could've picked that guitar up and practised atleast a few fret and finger exercises, I never got around to it. Thus, now it rests solitarily in that corner of my room, covered with dust and spider webs, untouched by any for months and months and months.

Even blogging was something I've wanted to do for an awfully long time but I just put it off for another day repeatedly. If it wasn't for the motivational challenge from a professor of mine now, I wouldn't have gotten around to doing it any time soon. Hence, it's quite clear how procrastination is dooming my greatest desires and how it's actually me who is feeding its fire. And how I wish I could really find a way to escape this exhausting loop I get stuck in because of it.

Yes, I do realise whining about it doesn't change anything and that I should actually put in effort to erase this lazy habit from my life. But as is the very name of my blog, please do allow me to babble so that I actually see this as a motivation for me to better myself. Because I want to. I really really want to. Every time I procrastinate doing something despite it being quite significant to me, I'm reminded of a particular quote by Benjamin Franklin which goes-

"You may delay but time will not, and lost time is never found again."

And oh lord, do I dread approaching the end of my life with the feeling that I never accomplished all the things I've ever wanted to. It's one of my biggest nightmares ever. To just survive and not really live- to just rush through the course of life, not really experiencing the beauty that each moment holds.

I don't really want to waste away my life. And if you, who is reading this, are someone who procrastinates too, together let us take a decision that we'll force this habit out of our lives and make every single second of it worthwhile.

Not from tomorrow. Not from the next week or the next month.

From now.

We'll live our lives to the fullest starting from now.

Because it's as Sydney J. Harris once said-

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Root Cause of my Obsession with Greek Mythology- 'The Song of Achilles'

 When most people my age are asked about how they first came into contact with Greek mythology, their answers usually end up being Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson book series. But in my case, it's not that. And I don't necessarily mean this as a flex but what made me fall head over heels for the complex tapestry of Greek mythology is Madeline Miller's (absolutely brilliant writer, she is) 'The Song of Achilles.' And oh man oh man, the way that book is one of the most soul-crushing yet beautiful literary pieces to ever exist on this planet! It's the way you know that the story of Achilles, the famous Greek demi-god, is an absolute tragedy, yet Miller's story-writing skills make you pray to every form of divinity to not let it end so. And I think that's an elevated level of tragic experience to the readers in itself- to know how it ends, to know it's not actually rainbows and unicorns, yet (YET!!) to be forced to wish upon every dying star to save the...
2 comments
Read more

Master Your Mind: 5 Techniques To Improve Your Memory

In the vast landscape of our cognitive abilities, memory is a cornerstone, having immense influence over our academic, professional and personal endeavours. The key to having a sharper memory is not merely memorising everything, but rather enhancing our overall cognitive capability by training our minds using various memory techniques. Some of these techniques I practise (or try to practise) include: Mastering Visualization: Imagine a bright pink strawberry, glistening with water droplets. The vividness of this mental image is precisely the potency of our visualization power. This technique involves creating mental pictures that are not only clear but also strikingly memorable. When given the task of remembering items, try to create a sequence of mental images that are easy to recall which will be imprinted in your head. Mnemonic Devices: These devices turn seemingly complex information into easily digestible nuggets. Acronyms, rhymes and associations are included in these devices. For...
2 comments
Read more

Stop Silencing and Start Addressing!

Today's blog is once again inspired by a spectacular performance put up by the Malayalam Crew of Theatre No.59 at MCC on Day 2 of the Theatre night. This play, titled 'Rithu', was such an emotional masterpiece that it brought almost the entirety of Anderson Hall (where this event was taking place) to its feet. And God, did even a standing ovation seem far too less of a credit that could be given to the act that was put up on stage.  Here, we could see 'Malik', a fifth-grade student from an ordinary working-class family in Kerala, filled with a sense of curiosity about the differences between the male and the female anatomy. When he raises this doubt to his parents, he is shunned and silenced. So he decides to take a peek into the girls' washroom at his school so that he can understand why girls sit down when they pass urine, unlike boys who stand. But he is caught by a teacher of his and is brought to the principal who beats him and shames him, demanding his par...
Post a Comment
Read more