April is now upon us, at long last! It is a new month, one that represents renewal and rejuvenation. This month is a time of rebirth for Mother Nature. The dead grass begins to turn green, coming back to life. Trees grow their leaves back and birds build new nests in the leafy branches. Baby buds blossom into fragrant flowers. Insects resurface out of nowhere, infesting our lives, and serving as a creepy crawly nuisance. Allergies act up in response to all that is in bloom, making life very uncomfortable for some people. I am one of those people who is allergic to everything that grows in nature. During the spring season, Zyrtec is my best friend. The weather is gradually warming up and the sun shines longer in the day, giving us all an extra dose of Vitamin D, which typically makes folks a little happier and generally more pleasant to one another.
April also means one more month until summer vacation. In turn, this means it is time for the procrastinators (like me) to get started on term projects and papers, and all of the major assignments that count for 80 percent of the grade that we have known about all semester, and time is now running out. But now that The Walking Dead season just ended, I’ll most likely have fewer distractions and excuses to put homework off. Wait, I recant that statement because the new season of Game of Thrones premiered this past Sunday. That show is the ultimate distraction, and it is just pure medieval awesomeness. Along with my disdain for my lack of academic discipline, I must say, my procrastination really grinds my gears.
I can honestly waste an entire 24 hours, knowing that I have a paper due in two days, a test at the end of the week, several chapters of reading to catch up on, and have a ton of laundry to do. My procrastination gets the better of me every time I attempt to be proactive. Procrastination plagues my mundane study habits, rendering these so-called “study habits” obsolete. So, I have set a goal for myself for the brand new month of April: proactivity. The beginning of a new month is always the perfect time to set new goals, or to start a diet, or to just do something different. So I’m going to take advantage of the opportunity the new month is offering, an opportunity that only comes 12 times a year, to revitalize my habits and maybe reduce some of my self-induced stress.
I try to make efficient use of time. I really do. Time management skills are imperative to any successful college career, and probably any career that ensues after graduation, but I have not quite gotten that far yet. I know I’m not the only one that struggles with managing time wisely, but gosh darn it, when there’s something more entertaining or exciting, my attention is immediately diverted to the activity that is not school work. I am the person that gets distracted by “shiny” stuff, so to speak. Take last week for example: I had a paper due Wednesday and a paper due Thursday, both challenging to write. Long story short, I spent two nights and three days writing these papers, with maybe three hours of sleep, it ended up being an uncomfortably strenuous 72 hours, and all of that grueling nonsense could have been avoided if I had simply started my papers the previous week. I tell myself every time I have a paper or assignment coming up that this time, for real, I will be proactive and not wait till the last minute to start the assignment. That proactivity has yet to happen… But now that the month of renewing is here, I can refresh my promise to myself and I fully intend on keep it this time. I have a paper due two weeks from now; maybe I’ll start on it tomorrow…
