Let’s read this tomorrow
It has been a very long time since I’ve written anything. The intention was never to take such a giant break, especially since I was right here in
Muscat and couldn’t pretend I didn’t have the time. There is, however, something extremely alluring about inaction:
About plain, old procrastination that leads you to come up with reasons, or should I say excuses, for not doing what you should be doing right then.
What is actually more embarrassing is that it isn’t as if this is an unpleasant task, or a horribly difficult task that I would want to put off. And yet there I was. It wasn’t easy, believe me, to come up with something besides the dreaded ‘I don’t feel like it’ excuse after I had taken the one-month Ramadan break.
Every week when Monday rolled around, just as it did this week, I felt a twinge of guilt but managed to distract myself successfully with some imaginary ‘save the world’, ‘save the dolphins’ or ‘save the house from dust’ tasks. I even washed my car on a couple of Mondays. If I have to shampoo, wash and wipe it to an enviable shine, I can’t sit and write too, can I?
You get the drift.
Waking up this Monday with a headache and fever seemed like a gift. If you think your head being squeezed slowly by gigantic pliers while Voldemort stares at you is a good thing, it’s time to do some soul-searching.
With Panadol, my best friend, by my side, I came to the conclusion that the trouble was that writing the column hadn’t been put in the Work Box in my head. I was treating it as something I like to do, like painting or writing fiction, both of which I always have a million reasons ready for not doing. (It doesn’t help not to have a Gorgon editor like myself to tell me to just get it done.)
Being here for the summer is actually very peaceful. It struck me that each time someone came back and asked what had been happening, my stock answer was - nothing much. As always, things are a bit quiet, especially after the Ramadan rush. Traffic is great, business is average across industry and there are very few events happening in town. Could it be that this is the season for procrastination for everyone?
It’s only a couple of weeks till all the schools open and hopefully that will kickstart everything. It’s amazing that we are already in August and I don’t have that much to show for it. Here’s hoping that the rest of the year goes much better for us all and procrastination just becomes a long word in the dictionary.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, I am back for the foreseeable future unless washing cars - which I am very good at - becomes my day job. It’s unlikely though, since it would be a tad difficult for someone of my superior height to reach the top of a window of a 4WD, let alone the roof.
See you next Tuesday.