Claire Conger

Last night I watched Ellen Degeneres here and now. Ellen talks about procrastination. Just what I needed to hear. Such serendipity!

I’ve been procrastinating like crazy lately. I’m busy busy busy. Too busy to get to what I really want to do—work on my websites! Why why why?

After running through her shtick, Ellen concludes that she’s a human being—she likes to be, not to do, because just being feels so good!

Interesting. Deepak Chopra says that being, as in all a newborn baby does, is the highest form of intelligence!

I will say, I’m happiest when I don’t have to do anything, yet I’ve very unhappy when I’m not getting done what I want to do! The object not done is all I can think about and I castigate myself constantly.

So I googled Why do people procrastinate? and came up with Cambridge University counseling! For me, their most relevant reason is “fear of success and its possible consequences” with the ancillary “anxiety about the task, so time is spent worrying rather than doing.” I’m trying to figure out why.

One reason might lie in my relationship to dessert! Yes, that sweet concoction you get after dinner, the one you’re not allowed until all your real food is eaten. The chore I want to do is like dessert, but I feel like I shouldn’t indulge in doing it because it has a reward so closely associated—like dessert!

Don’t I deserve dessert? Imagine my dismay. I look up the word dessert and I find it has nothing to do with deserving!

Etymology from Merriam-Webster online:

Middle French, from desservir to clear the table, from des- de- + servir to serve.

Guess I’ll have to figure out another reason to procrastinate.