Posts Tagged ‘guilt’

All in favor of procrastination…have I got a product for you!

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

Whenever I’m someplace I don’t want to be or doing something I don’t want to do, I daydream about the chores I’d be doing if only I were home.  Pitiful, huh?  I hate being bored, so even doing chores seems preferable, that is when I’m not actually able to do them. 

I think to myself, if I were home, or if I weren’t doing this boring project, I’d be scrubbing that bathroom, cleaning that stove, stripping the old paint off that… 

Then I get home and there are so many other things I’d rather be doing or not doing, so I put off the chore list.  The trouble with continuing to postpone stuff is that eventually a bit of guilt can creep in and guilt takes some of the fun out of goofing off.

One solution is to stop making such detailed “to do” lists. I just saw a product that solves this problem.  I would re-name this item “Sticky notes for procrastinators.”  They only have room for one thing a day. Here’s where to order them. “I will do one thing today”  

I’m going to order some soon. In a little while.  Maybe after I read this new magazine that just came. I’ll be right back.

© Anita Garner 2010

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Sometimes a small rebellion is enough.

Monday, May 18th, 2009

You know that feeling you get when someone cancels a plan and all of a sudden you have this unexpected clump of free time?  It’s exciting.  It’s a gift.  You were looking forward to the thing, but once it’s cancelled through no fault of yours,  you’re now looking forward  to not going.

It’s  a slippery slope from there to canceling something you planned for no reason except you don’t feel like it anymore.  At first it felt like a not-nice thing to do, but I have my rules:  

1) I consider whether anyone else will be hurt by my actions.

2) I never cancel at the last minute “just because.”  

3) I only say I’m sick if I’m sick.  

I’m too afraid of bad Karma to mess with that one.      

The first few times I used the “just because” clause, I felt a tiny guilt pang, but that was replaced quickly by a giddy feeling. Most of the time it’s like playing hooky with no consequences.  When it  feels like somebody else is running my life (no one else is - I have only myself to blame for my schedule) all it takes to restore balance is to cancel one thing that’s coming up.   

Still there’s that nagging feeling that a person ought to stick with what she committed to.

Which brings me to Netflix.  One day I returned a Netflix rental  WITHOUT WATCHING IT and when I tore off that skinny sticky strip on the return envelope, plopped the unwatched DVD  inside and closed it up, I felt a surge of whatever that feel-good hormone is.  It was  a small extravagance, but a huge emotional victory.

Here’s the shoot-myself-in-the-foot part:   More than once I’ve returned a selection, only to re-order the same title again later.  Evidently even my small rebellions have a price. 

Ó Anita Garner 2009

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