For the past several days I've been "learning" the same thing over and over. This multiple learning cycle should disqualify the topic from making this blog, but I am making an exception. That is because what I have been continuously learning is that once behind, it is hard for me to catch up on anything. I put learning in quotes because this is not a new theme for my life. There are many examples throughout my storied existence that one could turn to.
Take my high school swimming career. I was never what you would call a come-from-behind swimmer. Once passed I did not posses the skills to regain that lead. On occasion I would try to kick it into high gear early to establish a substantial lead. Like the time I swam my first 300 Freestyle as a freshman. I took off like a shot, swimming the same way I would have attacked a 100 Free race. I was significantly ahead, so much so that for the briefest of seconds my Mom thought I might be an Olympian one day. The trouble was I still had eight laps to go. As I dropped back, the other swimmers gained ground, overtook me, and actually finished the race a good minute to a minute and a half in front of me. I half-seriously considered drowning, thinking that might be easier than having to finish, but I swam on in what most people would have thought was slow motion had the race been televised. When I finished and crawled out of the pool, all the parents in the stands stood up and cheered. I'll tell you, that type of support does not do much to break a laggard out of her back of the pack habits.
TV shows are another nemesis. I will spend whole seasons DVRing serial shows so that I can watch them in order. I will plug my ears, singing "la la la" whenever anyone tries to mention what happened on last week's episode, but when I get home and sit down to watch a little TV, the long list of unwatched shows becomes so daunting to me that I turn on ESPN and watch several consecutive episodes of SportsCenter, sometimes seeing the plays of the week two or three times.
When laundry starts to back up it's a bit of a fashion death knell for me. It starts with a little bit of procrastination when I say to myself, "it's not too bad. I'll do it tomorrow." The next day is snowballs as I think, "I don't have enough time to get it done before 10 pm (when the laundry hours at my building end), I had better wait." And so on and so on until the pile is so big I tell myself, "there's so much. What if I fall trying to carry it?" This is the point where I usually decided that it might be easier to just go shopping than do laundry, which in reality is not a good idea at all as that will just make the pile bigger. So I wear those things in the back of my closet that should have been given to Goodwill years ago, and handwash select things in the sink. After a few days of this I will then start the process of slowly tackling the pile, though it is quite daunting and never fun.
So once again I find myself behind on this very blog. Though I have tried to diligently keep notes and write posts - often on the backs of envelopes or in emails to myself, I have lagged to the point where I cannot dig myself out in a humorous or worth-reading way.
Therefore, I am calling a do over. Just like in my childhood where I would not get the desired outcome (my brothers would beat me at HORSE, I would screw up on a song I was playing during a flute lesson, I would miss a beat on "Miss Mary Mack") I would call a do over to try it again. Well consider this my blog do over declaration! Starting today I am back on track and game to see if once again I can write about one new thing I learned the day before. Wish me luck. Trust me, I'm going to need it!
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