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Unfortunately procrastination is endemic in our society.  It is the person who is “always” dieting but not getting thinner, the person who “plays sports” but never actually seems to get out of the house, the person who has “hobbies” that they never do.

Its not our fault really, modern life is all about procrastination, about goals that are instantaneous and shallow.  Celebrity culture is worthless procrastination.  Magazines, TV soaps, even the news these days are all just ways of “adding commas into your days”.  I have written about it before here where I was talking about iPods as a means to procrastinate.

What exactly is it?  Well, the definition is:

Procrastination is the deferment or avoidance of an action or task and is often linked to perfectionism. For the person procrastinating this may result in stress, a sense of guilt, the loss of productivity, the creation of crisis, and the chagrin of others for not fulfilling one’s responsibilities or commitments. While it is normal for individuals to procrastinate to some degree, it becomes a problem when it impedes normal functioning. Chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological or physiological disorder.

But that is too dry, way too dry and doesn’t feel relevant; so watch this:

http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/

Very funny, but like all great comedy it has an element of truth and is essentially tragic.

What can we do?  Does all endeavor eventually become procrastination? Is a guy typing a blog about procrastination simply procrastination in that I am putting off writing my novel?  Is that not the very definition of irony?

When it comes down to it, procrastination is the taking of something to an excess to avoid life.  A type of fear.  The fear of living. 

Take the character of Ringo in the movie Tombstone:

Wyatt Earp: What makes a man like Ringo, Doc? What makes him do the things he does?
Doc Holliday: A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of himself. And he can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it.
Wyatt Earp: What does he want?
Doc Holliday: Revenge.
Wyatt Earp: For what?
Doc Holliday: Bein’ born.

Ringo can find no meaning in life through years of procrastination and addiction and thus looses the ability to care about others simply because he has lost is connection to himself.  This had led to his schizophrenia.

Procrastination is another word for addiction, and addiction irrevocably brings us down.  In order to escape this trap you must first recognise the symptoms and stop to think.  What addicts call a “moment of clarity”.

Again this is what Tyler Durden is talking about in Fight Club and again that masterpiece of a movie defines so well and so deeply the modern male condition.  Tyler is in effect the Narrator’s procrastination getting so bad he hallucinates a person unaffected by it.  Why?  Because he cant face living that way himself.  What a movie.  Truly the best movie ever.

So to fully live life you must be a little more like Tyler and be able to break the cycle of modern-metro-sexual-bullshit procrastination and actually connect with someone.

People, for your own mental health get out of the house!  Tomorrow, call someone up and tell them you love them, it doesn’t matter who it is, just mean it.

As Valerie says in the majestic “V for Vendetta,”

Valerie: …I hope that whoever you are, you escape this place. I hope that the worlds turns, and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I love you.

Try something new, break the mold and live a little!

Love,

Basho

Technorati tags: procrastination, philosophy, life, love, happiness

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