Sometimes when you fall asleep you have to nurse yourself back to consciousness. I took a break by my cat this evening and she proceeded to purr in my ear. Twenty minutes later I was waking up and wondering what week it was. On the one hand it is a clear sign that I’m overtired–a result of falling behind on my responsibilities a few weeks into the semester. On the other hand, I started the semester close to two months behind schedule and I managed to close that gap to a handful of days. I learned a lot from the catch-up experience, like how to say no once the plate is already full. I also picked up a few other lessons along the way.
- Generation Y is amazingly proficient and evading responsibility. While I might see it as being easier and more effective to just ‘do the work,’ Y finds it more interesting and apparently more fulfilling to task their mental capacities with getting out of the work. Just a few weeks into the semester I have heard more excuses than I have seen results.
- All writers are procrastinators. We shouldn’t be, but there is something about the idea of slogging through a project, even one you enjoy tremendously, that is difficult to commit to. Maybe we recognize the amount of mental gymnastics required to get through a writing project, and, like that fat needle from the doctor, we just don’t want to commit to it unless we really really must.
- Students find the idea of writing dirty. They find the idea of writing everyday to be an assault on their ability to function as young adults. On the other hand, they will text 17 times an hour and update facebook pages six times a day. This too is writing.
- It is easy to be fat. It is not so easy to be healthy, especially as you get older. The body wants what it wants and it doesn’t want to move very much. Once you start moving, aches, pains, and most of all lack of will get in the way. Schedules hurt too, but you can always fix those if you like.