Remember how I said yesterday that I intended to be productive today, in return for doing “nothing” yesterday? Well, it worked. I actually managed to get stuff done! In fact, I did most of what I set out to do!
Now, some of you may think I seem overly excited by this rather inconsequential development. But this really is a big deal for me. Too often, I get caught in a spiral of procrastination and guilt, which starts by me not holding up both ends of the bargain I’ve made with myself. Whether it’s because I slept in too much, or puttered around too long, I often find myself at the end of the day (or at least in the mid-afternoon) not having accomplished what I meant to do during the day.
Then, my perfectionism/procrastination takes over. It says: “Hey, it’s only a few hours before dinnertime. You and I both know you can’t do a good job with the time that’s left, so why even bother?” Not to be outdone, guilt raises its ugly head to chip in: “Oh great, another day wasted. Just like yesterday.” This often pulls me into a Funk, which completely annihilates any scrap of drive and productivity I have left.
But today was thankfully an exception. I had kept my expectations low: I wanted to repair some of my heavy fighting sticks, re-taping them and changing out the thrusting tips. I had a bit of an issue last week at practice, where my primary sword had lost enough tape that I didn’t feel comfortable thrusting with it. Then, my backup sword’s finger trigger broke. On top of that, my glaive’s thrusting tip had been looking a little deflated for quite a while; people were still taking shots from it, but I was starting to get nervous.
So I brought my gear inside to thaw (I think it got above 0 today) and ran some errands. Thoroughly stocked and warmed, I sat myself downstairs, pulled up something on Netflix, and got to work.
I was largely successful. Swords got re-taped, dead foam got excised and replaced, and I even managed to (finally) build my lighter-weight 9-foot fiberglass spear.
Needless to say, I’m in a slightly self-congratulatory mood. And no doubt the fact that I needed something to use at practice tonight served as a motivator. But I think it’s important to take time to acknowledge one’s accomplishments, no matter how banal they may seem. After all, if we only focus on the big, “legitimate” things, it can be hard to stay motivated. Take your victories where you can get them, I say. It makes it easier to pretend to be an adult.