Wednesday, June 14, 2006

A Matzah of a Mitzvah...or a New Post?


Wow. The past week-and-half has been very intense. Very busy. Very interesting. Very, very, very.

So I haven't posted in a while. Not too long of a while, of course, but longer that I would have liked. Yup, another secret is out: Okee has a life. I couldn't find the time, willpower or menuchas da'as to sit down and "pen" a new post.

Just in the last week, I took care of -count 'em- nine pressing issues. Wheeeeeeewwwwww! That's enough to make any girl want to curl under the covers with a good slurpee and and even better book....But I haven't had the chance to do so.

Don't get me wrong. (Oh, I know you'd never get me wrong, but just in case...) I have taken many a break, procrastinated a fair amount, had a good bit of fun, made more than my share of friendly phone calls, and rented a movie or two (or three). But I have had so many "deadlines", so to speak, lately, that I feel like a newspaperwoman or something. And it's not over. Oh, no. Deadline number eighty five is tomorrow morning, for a parsha summer homework assignment. Oish! (that's for you, you know who:)

Luckily, I decided to squeeze in a post creation during my procrastination time. As soon as I'm done with this, I'll check my aol mail, my yahoo mail, listen to some music, and then maybe get down to business. All's well that ends well, said the bard, and all of us procrastinators seem to agree wholeheartedly.

On the other hand, it's not exactly a Jewish ma'alah, and seems to be the opposite of zerizus. Oh, dear. I should really work on that. You know what they say, a mitzvah only stays matzah if you don't let it rise!

They do say that, right?

6 comments:

Pragmatician said...

I've never heard that before but that doesn't mean anything.
Zerizus is an important middah, however I don't think that breathing in and out between two tasks is procrastinating, you have a right to take a moment to relax and let your blog friends know how you're doing.

A Frum Idealist said...

we'll forgive you. It happens to the best of us.
what videos did you rent? anything good?

kasamba said...

I don't mind waiting for your posts- cuz they're always worth the wait!

Josh said...

Oish! Slurpees are not for bed!

It seems the more I have to do, the more I seem to be able to make things up to take precedence over actually doing them. Are you procrastinating doing Mitzvos? But all life is a Mitzvah, so I suppose so! Even returning your movie to Blockbuster is a Mitzvah (well, maybe with no late fee...)!

The real question is, what is at the root of your action avoidance? I know why I procrastinate - I'm afraid of failing. I figure that if I miss the deadline (or have too little time to make it all happen), I can blame my busy-ness for not moving forward - instead of proving by failure that I'm not capable. Now, that is a bad Middah. And not your Middah, because you know your own abilities. So just take your Ritalin, and get on with it. And feel free to ask us to share in the workload. I'll take deadline 86.

Lee said...

prag--thanks for reminding me to look at my deeds in a positive light. It's not procrastination, it's necessary breathing time! Breathe innnnnn (and five hours later...) breathe ooouuuuuuuuuttttt...

idealist--I'm so glad to be numbered among the best! And for the record, x-men and pride and prejudice. Variety is the spice of life. And so is the occasional cliche'...

kasamba--whoa, a compliment! I'll take it!-and maybe you won't have to wait too long for the next one. (spoiler: it might be about the connection between my favorite song in the universe for today and a shiur I heard in school:)

josh--fine! I'll take the slurpee to my big peach leather couch, then. And what you wrote is so funny -not because your fear of failure is funny, no, no- but because I recently read an article that attributed the self-destructive habit of procrastination to a fear of failure. You can always blame it on your tight schedule, or doing it last minute. Until I read that article, though, I never thought about it that way. And I still don't know if I do. Am I afraid of failure? Or do I reeeeeaally just like slacking off, chilling out? Ummmm, I don't think it's that either. Maybe a fear not of failure, but of responsibility? Or is it the same? Uh, all the above?

And ritalin? My drug of choice was already mentioned above!

And I do not think you want deadline 86. It's tonight, and involves writing five divrei torah and making pretty, "exciting" parsha sheets...

socialworker/frustrated mom said...

Well the mitzvah does turn stale if not done in a zealous way. So hard to maintain the excitement to do the mitzvos in a hurry.