"With a Conscience...." - "The Case For Doing Nothing"

“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.”

      I've just spent the past three to four days doing very, VERY little and it was all on purpose.  I made a conscious choice to do as little as possible.  I used to believe that procrastination was a curse.  My father, bless his soul, was a conscious procrastinator.  My mother, my grandmother, my sisters were not.  The women in my family did not procrastinate.  We were poised to continual activity and it's still like that today.  As a teenager, I legitimately tried to do as little as possible.  This did not sit well and so, I learned that procrastinating was not a way to win approval.  

      Then a miracle occurred.  I turned 50.  I know; there are plenty of 50 year old people out there.  But you can't escape the fact that as each year, each hour, each minute goes by, additional mileage of the heart and mind are a reality if not a blessing.  So the day I turned 50, I realized that the world was going by very quickly and no matter how hard I was working, or more importantly, wanted to work, I never wanted to be accused of being lazy.  I come from a long line of focused, hard working women.  I woke up at 50 exhausted.  I wondered if my sisters and my mother felt exhausted at 50 too.  But, I also knew that they would never complain about it.  

     So, when my 50th birthday came around, I made a pact to procrastinate.  I set the alarm a half hour later than usual.  Instead of five a.m., I would awaken at 5:30 a.m.  I even changed the sound of the alarm, to a kinder, gentler sound.  Gone was the music blasting from my iPod.  I would awaken in a more civilized way. Procrastination meant more civility. I decided to buy clothing that I didn't have to iron!  I figured out that if I didn't feel like rushing to get something done...guess what?  It got done!  Funny how that ends up happening.

     I decided that since I was 50, I didn't need to drive over 55 miles per hour...EVER. I have probably angered a whole lot of people on the way to work but "too bad, so sad."  I've slowed down and I like it.  I also took time to put my seat belt on even though it used to cut into my neck until I discovered I could take the time to adjust the belt so that it didn't feel like I was tied to a guillotine.  (And by the way, to the speed racing brat who passed me on a double yellow line on my way to work, "Was it worth it to be one car ahead of me at the stop light?")

Procrastination is a sign of good planning and well, living just a simpler, happier life.  It doesn't mean you're lazy or unmotivated.  It simply means that your priorities have changed. It may even help you sleep easier at night...but that's for more advanced procrastinators.  After all it is an art.