2,860
If I was to base the date I will die on say my grandparents age of death, let’s take my great grandmother who passed away at 88. She was actually one of the oldest in my family to be honest, so I’d actually feel very lucky to make it to that age. But anyway let’s take that age, minus my 33 years lived and then times 55 by 52 and yep… 2,860. I have, hopefully 2,860 weeks left to live.
Two thousand, eight hundred and sixty weeks to live life… that’s not that long when you see it written in black and white.
Now, I realise that this is an odd way to start a blog and quite morbid so apologises for the shock factor and death talk. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but there is a reason for this I promise, so stick with me here.
“Hi, my name is Katy, and I am a lifelong procrastinator!”
I am forever leaving important things to the deadline, and I seem to think I do my ‘best work’ in a mad panic mode. But in recent months, no let’s be honest in recent years since this pesky pandemic hit, it has made me extremely aware that life is really fucking short and as a procrastinator, I was throwing away a huge chunk of my life waiting on deadlines.
Have you ever heard of Parkinson’s Law? It’s the theory that the work we have expands to fill the time allotted for it – so whether given four days or four weeks we will let the work fill that time period. Now all the procrastinators out there probably know that means if you have four weeks to do it, you’re probably leaving about 90% to week number four!!! (High five to my fellow panic mode procrastinators, woo… why do we do this to ourselves though, like seriously?)
I suppose when we have a deadline at least we get it done, right? Maybe a few all nighters required but we get there. But what about the things in life that have no deadline? What about the bigger things in life we need to do but the expiration date on them is an unknown?
This dear friends, is the worst form of procrastination, when you are putting something off indefinitely because you can tell yourself there will always be time… but news flash people, if you do the math I did at the start of this blog, there quite clearly is an end date for all of us.
It tends to be the most important things in life we do this with, whether its improving our health, leaving a job or relationship making you miserable, following a dream or something as simple as spending time with family.
There is always that reason you will give to postpone taking action and you can reach a point you put these things off so much you end up becoming a spectator in your own life. You sit back and watch the world happen around you because you’re not ready to take the dive. In fact, you’re at the edge of the water barely willing to dip your toes in.
And then your trapped, trapped feeling as though you can’t chase your own dreams, you can’t mend relationships and you can’t put your happiness first. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
So, I have a challenge for you because I truly believe we could all do with that kick up the arse from time to time to achieve this. Take a moment and think about at least one thing you have been procrastinating on, it can be as big or a little as you like.
An example for you, I’m tackling my health, and this includes getting more active and changing my relationship with alcohol. These are huge factors in my life, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve said, “I’ll start Monday”. But over the past few months I’ve hired a great PT and recently I have set a target to go alcohol free for a period. I’ve also started journaling this whole experience to work through the crazy emotions that go hand in hand with it.
Yes, I have set myself little deadlines like 30 days alcohol free and lose a 1lb a week etc BUT ultimately, there is no end date for this change. This is something huge for me and it’s changes to my lifestyle I should have made a long time ago, not just when the number on the scale made me jump back a little in shock. I have failed to look after myself and in turn my physical health has impacted my mental health. Well, I don’t want to live another 2860 weeks like this and so I am making long term changes.
It is scary how much I doubt myself some days, how much the voices in my head keep telling me I’ll fail or reach a point and give up, but I now have that number drilled into my mind and I am so fed up with wasting time in life being tired, lazy or hungover. Right now, I have so much to keep on top of and my unhealthy lifestyle was a huge factor holding me back.
*** Heads up if you want to chase your dreams you gotta have the energy to do it so you need to prioritise your health! ***
So now I hand it back to you and to pick something, anything that doesn’t have a deadline, but you know you want to do! If it is seeing family, you haven’t seen for years – book that trip! If it’s quitting your job – get your financial and mental ducks in a row and hand in that notice! If it’s cleaning the house – go and grab a bin bag and hoover and just start!
Whatever you decide to tackle, just remember your doing this for you. Your life isn’t to be viewed from the observation deck, you should be front and centre on the main stage. There is no guarantee how long you get but death isn’t there to be feared – it’s a reminder we should be out there living while we can. So get out there and live well, live how you want to live – stop waiting till Monday and start now! Whatever the voices in your head might be telling you, just know you got this 😊
Remember if you need to talk, we are here. Just drop us an email at info@trashpandahq.com
You Are Not Alone
