Procrastination...such a big word but so easy to do!  What do we all procrastinate doing?  Mostly things we don't want to do. But what is it called when we put off doing someting that we actually WANT to do.  Seems silly, doesn't it, but yet we do it so much more that we realize.

Do you have a person you have been wanting to talk to? How about a letter you have been wanting to write (or an email)? Is there a book that you have been wanting to read, either for a few months or a few years?  What hobby have you been wanting to take up?  And here is a biggie...What
trip/vacation have you been wanting to take?  What is stopping you from actually doing any of those things?  Do you realize you have been procrastinating doing something you actually WANT to do?  

I hate cleaning house (even though the results yield a calmer soul).  I detest paying bills.  I dislike making all the phone calls to companies to "straighten" things out.  But all those things eventually get done because there are consequences if they do not get done, right?  Most of the time we put them off as long as possible, but they do get done.

What's my point in talking about procrastination?  I have been contemplating the fact that putting off the "good things" have consequences as well, but we fail to see them.  Why?  Because the consequences are not something external, but internal.  Think about it.  Follow my reasoning, odd as it may sound.

I have a book on my tablet that has been there for about four months now.  When I saw it in the bookstore and read the back cover, I knew it was going to be a wonderful book.  I raced home to order it and download it.  And there it has been for four months!  Every time I want to take a few minutes to read, I open up the app and see it there, but for one reason or another I put it off.  There are three books I have started and not finished.  The dishes are piled up in the sink.  I should organize that junk drawer.  The laundry is piled up in the corner of my closet. So, there that great book "sits." 

Now, what would happen if I opened up that book and actually started reading it?  Well, the other three, obviously not-good-enough-to-finish books will continue to go unread.  The dishes won't get done, but I do have more in the cupboards and the flies haven't found the dirty ones.  The laundry will go undone, but that will just give me a chance to wear those clothes I have in the back!  I have wanted a good excuse to wear that long ball bown for years! (Who says you can't wear a flowing gown, tiara, and strappy sandals as you read a great book?) 

And what would I accomplish if I sat and read that wonderful book?  Well, first of all, I would be having fun.  And what person wouldn't want that?  Secondly, I would be relaxing, allowing all of that built-up stress to flow from my pores.  Thirdly, I would be taken to a place in my mind and soul that I have been longing to travel to.  And fourthly, and certainly not lastly, I would be appreciating the $300 dress that I have never worn before and the strappy sandals would look great without giving me blisters! 

Here's my point.  My life has been put on hold for far too long.  I have been procrastinating "life" for so long that I can't remember what "fun" is anymore.  No more!  I took my trip to Germany and Italy, and yes, it cost me quite a bit of money, but it was still cheaper than a lifelong time of regret.  I will be paying off a credit card for a long time, but it is less expensive that an extended stay in a mental institution (or so I am told).  And now, I will choose to read my book.  Yes, the dishes and laundry may go undone, but I will be happy.  I may read up 'til wee hours of the morning and I will not sleep.  But I will have a rested soul and I won't torture myself about not having accomplished something I really wanted to do.  I will procrastinate no longer - with reading or anything else that will bring me some happiness. (Now if I could only find my reading glases in the heap of laundry, or did I put them in one of those half un-packed boxes in the spare room?)

Now, all of that said, I would think you would look at your list of want-to-dos and determine for yourself, "What would I lose by putting off for a little while longer the drudgeries of life, so that I could enjoy (fill-in-the-blank) for a while? Try it, you might find out that the things you will give up are not as important as you had made them out to be.