Way One vs. Way Two, Concluded.

This business is getting right out of control and possibly a bit boring, so I'm going to amputate and cauterize with the following summary paragraph:

The point is that there is a careful balance to be found between controlling and accepting the wide variety of items that life throws at you. The key in finding this balance lies not in looking around and seeing how other people do it, but instead figuring out what fits your nature as a person. Procrastination can be a weight, but it can also free up time to do some pretty freeing things. Can you compartmentalize? Can you allow some manageable piles to build up while you accept the unexpected items that are tossed your direction in a given day? Some people honestly cannot do this, and that is fine. For them, control is paramount, and while they will miss out on some fun, they won't ever have that weight that the procrastinator knows so well.

As for me (and really, this is all one big excuse to talk about myself for a minute), I'm working on accepting both ends of my personal spectrum. I am not ever going to be a No Piles On My Clean Desk person, and I should probably stop holding myself to an unattainable standard. This is not to say that I'm going to end up a homeless person who carries in his shopping cart the piles of bills he never paid. I'm going to, as I always have, get the job done. There will be, as there always has been, cycles of boom and bust in my personal accomplishment economy, and I might as well get comfortable with that fact. There are avenues for some improvements, certainly, but striving for the ideal has got to get chucked right out the window. You simply can’t live a pure Way One without sacrificing many of the vital pleasures of Way Two. Find the balance.

And at last, before I go to bed, I wish you a Merry Christmas. May all your presents be fantastic gifts of wonderment and joy, may your family be loving at best and hospitable at worst, and may the spirit of the season grab a hold of you for at least some of Christmas Day.