I'm not sure where this is going, actually. No, not sure at all. Of course, I'd like it to be a big turn-around in the way I conduct my life, a drastic series of epiphanies that turn my life upside-down and force me to re-examine every aspect of my existence.
Really? Would I really like that? I'm thinking no. If that actually happened, who would I be at the end of it? Would I even be someone I'd want to hang out with? No, I guess I'm not looking for any great epiphanies.
My son is taking swim lessons right now. I laid the law down and told him that if he wants to go on any camping trips next summer, then he has to learn how to swim. He's getting to be of an age where he likes to explore on his own. I asked, "What would happen if you fell into a lake or pond and couldn't swim?"
"I'd drown," he said.
Precisely.
In class, he's doing something called "streamlining" right now. Basically, it goes like this: put your arms straight out over your head and bring your hands together, close your eyes, take a big breath, lay face down in the water, then push off of the wall. Once you've got forward motion, kick your legs to keep going. This is all a precursor to learning the Crawl; throw in some arm paddling and breathing technique and -- viola! -- we're swimming!
If I look at my son's swimming lessons as a metaphor for my own endeavors, I guess I'd put myself at the floating stage. I haven't yet put my arms over my head and made that streamlining point out of my arms, let alone started to kick, or added in the arms and breathing.
I'm holding my breath and floating . . .
. . . or maybe I've run out of breath and have resurfaced, only to realize that the lake I'm in is much larger and turbulent than I'd first imagined.
Regardless. There's my metaphor -- my conceit, if you will. I'll use that as a guide.
My goal for this week: Examine what I need to do in order to get my hands over my head and push off into the water.
Today's goal: Do one thing I absolutely despise, and one thing I'd rather procrastinate on doing, but will do anyway.
Showing posts with label procrastination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label procrastination. Show all posts
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Day 1 (maybe)
OK, so. I'm not sure if this is going to be an every day thing or not. Maybe. We'll see.
Here's why this is, and why it's called what it is. My friend Webster says that one of the definitions of entropy is: "a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder."
Er . . . yeah. Anyone who knows me will agree with that last part -- a trend to disorder. My house, my classroom, my career(s), my whole life basically. There are times when I take a certain amount of pride in my disorder, my scattered bits of creative non-conformity. Other times, it's a little embarrassing. Still others -- a lot embarrassing.
Rather than being some self-serving excuse to whine about my existence, I've decided that this blog is going to be a self-serving excuse to shrink the amount of entropy in my life. Now, I'm not going into this with any sort of plan (are you kidding me???) but at this point I recognize I need to do something. Here's the deal: I look at every part of my life, and I see how it could be better if I was just a little more organized and less, um . . . not.
Examples:
Weight. I'm not huge or gargantuan, but, like many middle aged men, I've been investing in personal real estate for a number of years, and the acreage has definitely increased in the belly area. I know this, but I've not organized an effective assault on the extra twenty-odd pounds.
House. Yeah. I'm horizontally challenged. If there's a horizontal surface, I will place something on it and promptly forget about it.
Writing. What? I've written the books, why aren't they on the shelves at our local bookstore? Because I haven't marketed them effectively, that's why.
Those three are enough to get the point across. Let's just say that the rest of my life is in the same shape. Imagine how much more fulfilling it would be to be able to point to any one area and say, "Yes. This works. This is the way it's supposed to be."
My motivation: Three weeks ago I went to the Emergency Room. My blood pressure was through the roof. Seriously through the roof. 207/130.
(blood pressure chart)
Yeah. The last three weeks have been a blood pressure teeter-totter as my doctor tries to find something to get it under control. It's been headaches from too high, to dizziness and near-passing out from too low. It has not been as high as 207/130 again, however, thank goodness. But the medical issues aside, what got me here? Entropy, a trend toward disorder. I want to fix that, even if it's only in a few areas of my life.
So, this blog is about finding the direction for that. Just looking at it right now, I see that some of it is just laziness and procrastination, but is it innate or can I break out of it and reach farther? I don't know. Right now, there is no plan, but I'm hoping as this progresses, one will form that I can live with . . . literally. Right now, my goal for the day is going to be to do one thing that I would normally say, "Later, not right now," to, and do it anyway.
Here's why this is, and why it's called what it is. My friend Webster says that one of the definitions of entropy is: "a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder."
Er . . . yeah. Anyone who knows me will agree with that last part -- a trend to disorder. My house, my classroom, my career(s), my whole life basically. There are times when I take a certain amount of pride in my disorder, my scattered bits of creative non-conformity. Other times, it's a little embarrassing. Still others -- a lot embarrassing.
Rather than being some self-serving excuse to whine about my existence, I've decided that this blog is going to be a self-serving excuse to shrink the amount of entropy in my life. Now, I'm not going into this with any sort of plan (are you kidding me???) but at this point I recognize I need to do something. Here's the deal: I look at every part of my life, and I see how it could be better if I was just a little more organized and less, um . . . not.
Examples:
Weight. I'm not huge or gargantuan, but, like many middle aged men, I've been investing in personal real estate for a number of years, and the acreage has definitely increased in the belly area. I know this, but I've not organized an effective assault on the extra twenty-odd pounds.
House. Yeah. I'm horizontally challenged. If there's a horizontal surface, I will place something on it and promptly forget about it.
Writing. What? I've written the books, why aren't they on the shelves at our local bookstore? Because I haven't marketed them effectively, that's why.
Those three are enough to get the point across. Let's just say that the rest of my life is in the same shape. Imagine how much more fulfilling it would be to be able to point to any one area and say, "Yes. This works. This is the way it's supposed to be."
My motivation: Three weeks ago I went to the Emergency Room. My blood pressure was through the roof. Seriously through the roof. 207/130.
(blood pressure chart)
Yeah. The last three weeks have been a blood pressure teeter-totter as my doctor tries to find something to get it under control. It's been headaches from too high, to dizziness and near-passing out from too low. It has not been as high as 207/130 again, however, thank goodness. But the medical issues aside, what got me here? Entropy, a trend toward disorder. I want to fix that, even if it's only in a few areas of my life.
So, this blog is about finding the direction for that. Just looking at it right now, I see that some of it is just laziness and procrastination, but is it innate or can I break out of it and reach farther? I don't know. Right now, there is no plan, but I'm hoping as this progresses, one will form that I can live with . . . literally. Right now, my goal for the day is going to be to do one thing that I would normally say, "Later, not right now," to, and do it anyway.
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