It’s a beautiful thing, really.  Due dates and deadlines fast approaching, the subtle rumblings of angst masked in adrenaline.  The ticking of the clock.  The beating of your heart.  The all-encompassing determination.

I wouldn’t consider myself a procrastinator to a fault.  Albeit, I’ve never missed a deadline and am rarely scrambling to add anything other than finishing touches before an assignment is due.  However, I believe there is an art to having just the right amount of time to get something done without having to scramble/pull your hair out/[insert anxious action of choice].

Let’s spell this out a bit more.  An assignment is given in class on a Monday, due in class the following Monday.  Never would I go home and begin the work that night, or even the night after.  If we’re being honest here, probably not that day after that, either.  But come Thursday or Friday, something in my brain goes off and alerts me that it is essential to start the assignment now to avoid a scrambling situation later.

At this point, I will take out my computer and size up the assignment.  Look it up and down, left to right.  Make it squirm.  Then, quite likely, I will return to whatever activity I had been doing before, and vow to start the real work later that day.

Come bedtime, I’ll bring my assignment to my room.  I’ll methodically brush my teeth and wash my face, never for a second rushing to get to my poorly-attended to-do.  I’ll get under the covers, cast my gaze on the work momentarily, and instinctively opt for my phone and a session of scrolling and liking pictures.  And so the dance continues.

Monday morning fast approaching, a nerve is triggered somewhere in my fear center.  My monkey brain takes over.  I walk to school, take out my papers, highlighters and computer and begin the assignment, one eye on the prize the other on the clock.  I then pause to write this post.

Indeed, a beautiful dance it is.