Emotions and procrastination - part two

Hello, all!

Well, guess who has been a victim of procrastination for the last few days?

Guilty as charged and absolutely no excuses.

I had planned to continue with emotions and their involvement in procrastination, so I will do so. If you feel down, why not use that misery to go yourself some good? Misery loves company, it is said, not without a certain degree of truth. Procrastination also loves misery.

I mean: I've just lost my job, what happens to me now? There's no work around that I can do....etcetera, etcetera. Perfect for procrastination to grab a hold and put you in the unemployable box forever. Those so-called friends that lost their jobs at the same time as you had no idea what they were talking about; going back to school, upgrading their skills.....

It may sound like I am making fun of people in this situation. I most certainly am not, having been in that very same place not so long ago. As a matter of fact, I made a living out of it, not understanding and not caring what it was doing to all of my family.

I procrastinated for almost twenty years.Twenty perfectly good years, while I hid behind procrastination and self-pity. Not so much self-pity, because I knew how to handle that, but I blamed everything I could think of for stopping my dream.

What was my dream? A very simple one, actually. To write. To entertain people. A dream that had accompanied me through both lots of school, university, nursing work and everything else I could fit in, while I dragged a few words out here and there, and went through all the emotions you can imagine as to what to do with them. But I  could always find some way of not continuing on with what  I started.

So the first thing in your fight against procrastination should be to examine your feelings. It is as a fact that a mood, no matter how bad, cannot not  sustain itself for more than half-an-hour, if that. You may think you have been in that state for hours, but really, there have been quick experiences of sadness, love, joy, expectation and generally the whole range of emotions that humans are capable of as well, despite them not registering on your consciousness.

Humans are incapable of keeping one emotion alive for very long. It will settle into a less strong feeling and become less and less, until woken up by some action or random thought, or overtaken by another emotion entirely.

So don't go with the first emotion you feel, or makes itself known to you. That one will probably last until you squeeze in a cup of tea or coffee. Think of all those people who say they cannot function without that kick-start.

If you consider you are in a bad mood, go take a shower. Not hot or cold, but reasonably warm, changing to luke-warm just before you get out. Dry yourself and clean your teeth. These two very simple acts should push your moods higher on the positive scale.

Don't sit around in your pajamas. Sub-consciously staying in your pajamas signals bedtime, and you will start to feel the good felling drain away. Some people can work in their pajamas and good luck to them. Many of us, however, cannot, unfortunately. Doing that throws our sense of rightness into confusion, even if we are galloping around after children to get them ready for school.

Many people now work from home, which is a great idea. But it really is a better idea to get dressed, not done-up like a sore toe and made-up to kill, but a little lipstick can do wonders for your ego, as can dressing simply but neatly.

 In your fight against procrastination, if you do the above for maybe a week, then you will see what type of moods you usually wake up in, or you are in when you look at whatever it is that you keep putting-off and putting-off. Keep a list of how you feel first thing, then think about it an hour later. Are you still tired, out-of-sorts, reluctant to even think about the problem?

Take the shower then. It will only take you a few minutes and you will be ready for anything. Somehow having a clean mouth also adds to the feeling of freshness that the shower starts.

It does work, all you Doubting Thomas's! Just try it!