Monday, May 3, 2010

Is it over yet?

I have always been a procrastinator. There are some days when I still can't believe that I have figured out this food thing. It takes commitment and follow through sure, but really it is just about paying attention and making decisions in the moment knowing that they will have implications in the future. For example, if I eat this now, how will it impact my dinner? What other good for me things have I had today that will balance out this fried dough, blond brownie, muffin, bishops bread, and ice cream? What should I cut back on this week because I ate all of those things yesterday in one day? ;) That sort of thing.

Why is it then that I have such a hard time getting school stuff done? It still has implications for my future but I often put it off and then off again until I am not sure I have enough time to finish it. I used to put off thinking about food and would just eat it. Now I put off thinking about school and just go do something else... This behavior is known to me and while not as bad as it used to be, still bugs me. I hate feeling rushed and pressed for time, especially when it is something I know about. We had to submit paper for MicroBiology class today and while i had read all the research weeks ago I had put off the actual writing part until last night and today. Fascinating subject I thought, the potential role of our resident gastrointestinal flora on the rise of obesity. And in case you are curious, to sum up, sure, those bacteria play a role in our metabolism but I'm not sure it's that much. With no real answer to obesity "epidemic" people are looking for any possible therapeutic target. It's all about the money... Anyway like with our own genes, I'm pretty sure we can overcome the genes of our microbiota. Being fat is no one's destiny.

So sigh. I'm sure the paper is fine, but I know it could have been better written and I know that is result of the procrastination. I need to be better about paying attention to school. I know the end of the semester is not the time to come to that conclusion, and I come to this conclusion every semester, but still, I could do better. The thing about being successful at something so many others fail at is that it raises the bar for yourself to be super good at everything else you do too.

2 comments:

Melissa said...

I'm a member of the procrastinator club too. My final paper is due today. Words written = 0. I took today off from work to do this paper.

Anonymous said...

I finally accepted that procrastination is just a part of my personal learning style. LOL. I earned 3 degrees before I was diagnosed with ADD. Sought treatment for it, then earned another degree in a field that was a huge stretch for me. And still I was a school work procrastinator!

Your paper sounds very interesting! I find that nutrition and medical research is extremely limited by capitalist interests. (A lot of junk science passing as reliable findings, which of course the media pick up whenever there's a dramatic angle.) *sigh* Sometimes I feel our understanding of human health is in its infancy.

I bet you're glad the semester is almost over!

--Robin