Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Beginnings

So after two and a half weeks of looking at this little post-it on my desk telling me to "Blog... 'beginnings'?" every day, I have finally sat down to do as I'm told (even if it was me doing the telling).

As a student I have become a master of the art of procrastination, and believe me, it is an art. You start the day with this nice neat list of tasks that need doing, like going food shopping and studying, and somehow you end up doing the shopping, reading a book, watching a film and meeting your friends for coffee but not the studying, even though it's the most important thing on the list.

The feelings of guilt that we generate by procrastinating an important task often actually seem to reinforce our desire to procrastinate, and so a cycle of guilt starts following us around until we actually cave in and do something about whatever it is we're not doing.

The culprit, at least in my case, is my impulsiveness to do something fun like watch a film, go for a walk or make something extra delcious to eat. Since prioritisation doesn't seem to work very well in the face of an especially strong desire to procrastinate, I think the time has come to attempt to master our impulsiveness - to harness it to immediate effect for those tasks that seem less interesting or aren't as fun as the things we would prefer to spend our time doing. Of course, that's usually easier said than done.

It might be a never-ending battle, but at least once you finally begin the end moves into your line of sight and starts to get a little closer all the time. You just need to make your move.


Sunday, July 8, 2012

The art of relaxation

Having spent my morning making the most heavenly 'Grand-cru chocolate tart' from Le Cordon Bleu's Chocolate Bible and my afternoon painting, I am firmly of the belief that relaxation is an art form. Not only is it an art form, but it's something that everyone should be working to perfect.

Admittedly it can be a bit tricky to find time to genuinely relax during the week when work, school, and other pressures are constantly lurking around every corner, but Sundays are ideal for perfecting the art of relaxation. Lazy Sundays (the best kind of Sunday) are made from lie-ins, pyjamas, chocolate and a generous serving of escapism.

Whether you spend the day reading, watching films, cooking delicious food, painting, or another hobby or pastime, the key point is to de-stress and forget about your worries for the day. I think there would be a lot less conflict in the world if we all made the effort to relax and get rid of all of our built-up tension.

In my opinion, Sundays should be made mandatory relaxation days so that we can all wake up refreshed and prepared to face the coming week on those miserable Monday mornings. Free chocolate would be pretty good too...