I am a master… at procrastinating.
It is both a strength and a weakness for me. In my youth, it drove my own mother crazy, but she also knew that I thrive on being busy and under pressure. To the extreme that when I wasn’t burning my candle at both ends, she tried hard to find things to keep me occupied. If she didn’t, my grades went down.
In elementary school, I waited until the very last minute to start a project. By high school, this method of madness translated to writing my term papers the night before they were due. College tests – I studied, but only a few hours before. Moving forward, I spent the last two weeks of my final quarter of Grad School writing and finishing up my thesis.
By myself, procrastinating works. As a mom, not so much. I want my children to learn a better balance than I have for myself. I don’t want them to thrive under pressure, but to know the peace that can be found in completing a task a bit early. I see in their little faces panic when they have a project due, and mommy hasn’t yet got the supplies. It stabs me at my core.
I know this need, this unexplainable need, to wait last minute may never go away (like the fact that I am finishing this post the day it’s due to be turned in). But I’m trying for the sake of my precious babes to at least plan more and be prepared more in advance when it comes to things they need to do. They get the calm and we have time on our side that they so desperately need. I can save my master procrastination for other areas in my life that they won’t even notice or care about!
If there are any fellow procrastinators out there also striving to do less waiting and more doing ahead, I would LOVE to hear your tips and tricks that have helped you along the way!
