Procrastinatus

Art Card made from Polymer Clay

Practically speaking, I worship at the alter of Procrastinatus.

Now, I don't want to, mind you. I think that Procratinatus is a sneaky God who steals away my good reputation through good intentions.

 In fact, lately I have made an offering to Procrastinatus, I pinned a cartoon on the alter for him. ( At least I meant to pin it, I never really got around to it. )

Anyway, the cartoon shows a devil, driving down the highway in a paneled truck with a big grin on his face. On the side of the truck is the name of the company he works for: The Good Intentions Pavement Co.

I meant to plant that garden last spring, but I never got around to it.

I meant to write a couple of blogs ahead of time so I would be ahead of the game, but it never happened.

I meant to do all sorts of things, but somehow time just slipped away.

For many years I beat myself up for this slavish worship of Procrastinatus, but then I realized that sometimes (not always by any means) Procrastinatus is a positive fellow.

 As many of us do, I tend to think I can accomplish much more than I am doing. So I load myself up with expectations that are unrealistic. Then I blithely comment that I "work best under pressure".

Well, that's not true, at least its not true for me.

I don't work best under pressure, it's just that without that pressure, there are some things that will never get done.

So Procrastinatus helps me from burning myself out, by putting off certain things until they are no longer necessary, so I don't have to do them. Without the help of Procrastinatus, I might very well be dead from exhaustion.

But Procrastinatus also has kept me from doing some things I really wanted to do.  Which is not so good.

As with many life experiences, Procrastinatus is not the bad fellow he is painted up to be. There are positive aspects to him as well as negative.

The real trick is to know when to invoke him.