Sometimes I see all of the work I have to do, and it makes me want to do precisely one thing: crawl back into bed. Well, I suppose I want to do more than one thing. I actually want to crawl back into bed, fall asleep, dream the world into an ideal state, and then wake up to find everything has been done. And done well. So I can do as I please.
I guess that's four things. And anyone who is anyone knows that wishing doesn't make it so. Doing does. (What a delightful language English is sometimes. Sometimes, you can create a sentence by using two conjugations of the same verb. Except that one of the verbs is acting as a noun. Oh, the joys of gerunds.)
Staring at my whiteboard calendar, alas, does not make the assignments I have due in the month of February automatically write themselves on it. Arthur Mervyn does not automatically read itself and form a discussion in my head. (By the way, if I ever wanted to torture someone . . . I'd make them read this novel. About fifty pages in, I'm convinced most of the population would plead for mercy and give me almost anything I want.)
Papers don't write themselves. Proposals don't submit themselves to conferences. None of this happens if I don't do it.
Some people wouldn't consider the consequences to be terribly dire: so I'd have to B.S. my way through a few class discussions. I wouldn't be considered to present at a conference. Such things wouldn't be the end of the world. Life would find ways to march on. I might even still manage decent grades this semester.
But then I would feel empty. I would have no sense of accomplishment, because accomplishments only come with effort. In looking back, I would see a sorrowful stream of missed opportunities. And I know I'd regret it.
So even though I woke up this morning with an intense desire to do nothing but crawl back into bed, I won't. I will read the dreadfully boring book; I will write a proposal for the conference; I will map out my academic actions for the month of February.
And I will do it, knowing that even if today is not my favorite day, it is not a day I will look back on with regret.
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3 comments:
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I keep waiting for my papers to write themselves.
They continue to disappoint.
Heh... Yeah, I have that problem... ^.^; I get overwhelmed quite easily...
Lol. I thought scarlet letter was like that. ^.^ Do what I want or I shall make you read Scarlet Letter!! Mwahahahaaa!
"accomplishments only come with effort" *sigh*... Yeah. That be the rub. It's just one of those things you want to have done...
"And I will do it, knowing that even if today is not my favorite day, it is not a day I will look back on with regret." ^.^; You are a better person then I... >.<
Well, at least you procrastinated long enough to write this post. I assume, then, that the entire day wasn't lost to the horrors of responsibility?
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