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Thursday 26 September 2013

Escaping the Sleepy Zone (aka: PROCRASTINATION)

Hi!  So...I haven't written a blog post in ages, and for that, I apologise!  Since starting back at school, I've entered something I like to call the Sleepy Zone (original title, huh?).  The Sleepy Zone is basically when you come home, and feel like you can do NOTHING.  Nada.  Zilch.  Zero.  You just feel like you want to fall into bed and, well, go to sleep.

The thing is, when you are actually out doing something, or when you sit down and make yourself do something, the Sleepy Zone goes away.  Completely.  But the difficulty with the Sleepy Zone is that you don't want to do anything, therefore making yourself do it is very, very hard.  Take this blog post, for example: I feel good writing it, its something I love to do, yet its taken me from 4.00pm (when I got home) until 7.00pm (now) to actually start writing.  WHASUPWITHAT??!

So when I'm at school, or out with friends or something, working is very easy for me.  And don't get me wrong, there are people with much harder jobs, much harder lives, than me, so I feel like a whiny little bitch writing this.  Honestly.

But fear not!  If you can see what I'm talking about, if you can empathise (er, please say you can?), then I am here to tell you a way out of the Sleepy Zone!  And its not caffeine.  Promise.

The way out is your mindset.  See, what I've done is name the Sleepy Zone, which has helped me to figure out what it is.  The Sleepy Zone is, in fact, PROCRASTINATION.    Procrastination is a word which is often flung around on the Internet, as the Internet is mainly where we go to procrastinate.  Us Internet geeks almost take pride in our abilities to procrastinate.  Don't lie - I know that its the one thing we all have in common, its probably why you're reading this!  On the Internet, procrastination can make you fit in, and you can feel like part of some sort of group.  But in real life?  Well, lets just say that procrastination is possibly one of the worst things that you can encounter.  (well, maybe not the worst.  #firstworldproblems)

Now, I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm almost seventeen years old (Novemeber 15th, put it in your diary! That is, if people actually use diaries any more.  You kids probably just use your phones.), I'm in my last year of school,  I'm snowed under by coursework and university applications and 'extra-curricular' activities, and I JUST DON'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.  Because, truth be told, I'm scared.  Bloody, frickin' terrified.  I'm scared I won't be accepted into university, I'm scared I'll fail my exams this year, I'm scared about almost everything in my future because I'veneverbeenawayfromhomeIdon'tknowexactlyhowmylifeisgoingtoturnoutandARGH!!!

So I'm procrastinating - I've entered the Sleepy Zone because my fear is making me tired, but mainly because I hope that everything will go away if I don't do it.  Which is freaking ridiculous.

Lets just look at my worries, one by one, and see what we can do about them:

1) Not being accepted into university.  Well, that's the worst that can happen, isn't it?  Not being accepted.  The worst comes to the worst and I don't I go to college, take a gap year, or get a job.  That's it. And if I quit procrastinating and actually fill out my application, do my personal statement, then the chances are that everything will be fine.  So why the big worry?

2) Failing my exams.  Its not the end of the world.  There's always a way outside the system, and even if there isn't, there's always something else you can do - you're life may not go excactly the way you planned, but so what?  All I have to do is put my all into the coursework, do the best that I can, and that's it.

3)  Being scared about the future.  Nobody know what the future holds.  You can't predict how your life will turn out.  So stop trying.  Every kid has to move away from home.  Everyone has to find out what they want to do with their lives - if you don't get it right the first time, there's always a second chance.  Or if you end up doing something you don't like and you feel that it really is inescapable, then find something on the side that just makes you that little bit happier.  A bit of happy is all you need to make your life feel just that little bit more OK, to make you hope a bit more.  As for no knowing what you want to do, I recently read a book where one of the characters says something like this:  Imagine now, when you're thirty, and someone brings this eighteen-year-old kid up to you and says 'Hey, this is Kevin, and he's going to make all your life decisions for you'.  Its not a direct quote, (from 'Girlfriend in a Coma' by Douglas Coupland) its just from memory, but you get the drift.  Little old teenage you can't decide your life for you.  You can always change it when you grow up.

So, this is how to get out of the Sleepy Zone:  take your problems, however small, and just look at them, do they really need that much to sort them out?  I'm not going to pretend that I'm still not totally scared and confused, but I am a little bit calmer, and in the midst of all the drama, I'm really excited for my future, I hope that I can do everything that I want to, or even just one, little thing that will make me happy.  Once you know that your problems aren't so big, you can see past them to the future, and maybe get a little bit excited about stepping into the unknown.  And this isn't just for kids like me, just try it, wherever you are in your life if you ever feel a little bit lost.

Sorry for the long, rambling post today - I'm sorry it wasn't a fashion one, but more soon!!
Have a fantabulous day!

  xxxx

PS - gold star for you if you read this far down!  xx

PPS - I changed the font, as the old one was a little hard to read. Thoughts?! ;) xx

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