This piece almost got pushed to 2021
Melissa Gibbons // Contributor
Emma Harris // Illustrator
Procrastination: Leaving things until the very end. Haven’t we all done that? If you are reading this and thinking “no” good for you! You have definitely mastered the way of life by compromising to do things and using your time wisely. For those who feel like they procrastinate and struggle with time management, I feel you. It’s the biggest struggle of my life.
Soon we are going to be welcoming a whole new decade. It’s crazy, where did the time go? Time flies, especially when you are slowly transitioning to adulthood. It seems like there are a bunch of things to achieve all at once: studying, working, cooking, cleaning, socializing… Most of the time, we are in such a rush that we often forget to take care of ourselves. This is just as important as all of your other priorities. When you forget to put yourself first, your goals get pushed, your physical and mental health slowly decline, and then you are stuck with a horrible feeling: The things that you truly wished to do, you didn’t.
There is something magical about a new year. Everyone talks about resolutions, whether they are focused on career, fitness, relationships, travel, or finances. “New year, new me”, am I right?
In reality, the months go by and you find yourself mid-year, realizing that you haven’t really taken the steps to achieve the goals that you wanted at the very beginning of the year.
I came across a quote recently: “My goal in 2020 is to accomplish the goals I set in 2019, which I should have done in 2018, because I made a promise in 2017”. I laughed when I saw this, but it resonated with me clearly. Earlier in 2019, I made a list of things that I wanted to accomplish within the year. I started on the right foot and achieved some of them. But by mid-year I realized that the goals that were really important to me got left behind. Suddenly, it was November, and I felt major anxiety being unable to follow through with them. Eventually, I thought to myself: “You got this, don’t waste time thinking about what you haven’t done, breath in, breath out, you can still try and do the things that you really want to do, just focus and go.”
If you’re a procrastinator, you understand that little adrenaline rush when there is a limited time to get things done. It’s weird, I realize that I messed up by not using my time properly and then I run around like a little mouse to complete all the things that I left to the end.
I don’t want to create a bigger list of things to do for the next decade. I actually feel better now that I have taken little steps to get things started.
Look at your goals, and think about what you can do in order to start working towards them. You don’t really have to wait for a fresh start to accomplish something. Start now!
2020, here we come!