PROCRASTINATION
POSTPONEMENT
STALLING
Here’s how singer/songwriter KT Oslin put those traits to music:
“Come next Monday
I’m goin’ to bed early
I won’t talk dirty for a week or two
Goin’ on a diet
Just like sugar, honey
Come next Monday
I’m gonna give up on you!
X-rays show some
Excess baggage
Too much work for a little hard to do
Self-denial
Is never easy
But Come next Monday
I’m gonna give up on you
Aint gonna call you
After a day or two
Aint gonna miss you honey
An even if i do
I’ll never tell you
You’ll never ever know
How hard it is
To let you go
Come next Monday
I hope I’m a little bit stronger
Some of the Mondays that I’ve been through
Temptation Tuesday
Might be sorry
But come next Monday
I’m gonna give up on you.”
Why do we shy away from actions that we know we ought to take?
Well, for one thing, we wouldn’t have bad habits if they didn’t give us some pleasure. As in the KT Oslin song–—Self denial is never easy. We think and think and think about getting rid of a particular habit, but we can’t let go of the pleasure it brings.
Even Saint Augustine wrote in his Confessions: “As a youth I prayed, “Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.”
Still, shouldn’t we take another shot at it? Shouldn’t we clear out the excess baggage in our lives? All that stuff that holds us back from being the person we are meant to be?
