My Fixation on Deadlines almost Broke Me.
It is the 9th of June, and as I am writing this, curled up on my couch, it is raining heavily, with an occasional thunderclap, the smell of ginger garlic paste floating from the kitchen, and a TV blaring dubbed South Indian movies in the background.
I am doing a 30-day writing challenge for the month of June, where, as I made tall claims in my very first post, I would be writing a post every day, for thirty days.
Needless to say, I have failed. Or to be less dramatic, I am running behind.
It is the 9th of June, and I only have 4 posts. 4.5, if I count the one I’m writing as of this moment.
I have failed to meet my own deadline.
Deadlines have a very negative annotation to them, as we usually associate them with work, and stress and they are the ones that don’t let us sleep peacefully at night. But used in the right sense, deadlines help ease work, bring orderliness, and once achieved, bring us a sense of achievement.
Sounds good, right?
Then what is the problem, I asked myself? It’s too soon for writer’s block, nor is it the lack of time. Then what?
The problem is, I have too many deadlines.
I have a day-to-day deadline (for work), hourly deadlines (on Wednesdays and Thursdays), weekly deadlines (post-grad stuff), and life events planned (I have 12 months, 18 months, and 2-year plans in my head).
We’ve lost so much in so many different ways during the pandemic. What we’re left with is a sense of exhaustion, stress, and anxiety. In these conditions, adding stress to one’s own self is not exactly admirable.
I love writing. I can’t lose out by prefixing a deadline which makes me lose out on writing while gaining the added stress of meeting another deadline in my limited twenty-four hours.
I will finish the 30-day writing challenge. Just, a little on my own terms.
“If the problem can be solved why worry? If the problem cannot be solved worrying will do you no good.”
Lesson learned: Don’t stress might be too idealistic. Worry less about things you can, and cannot control.
Adios!
