What role does procrastination play in your life?

No dilly dally

    As I write this essay, I stare at a blank page while it stares back at me. A million thoughts running through my head, but no words to speak of. A still page with impatient fingers ready to type, but a mind that shuts down any and every idea. The desire to check my notifications, listen to music, or play games lay nearby like a looming storm cloud arriving on a sunny day. Anything but writing the essay suddenly becomes so much more interesting and important. I understand what needs to be done, but my body is unwilling to comply. That is a feeling I know all too well, but I am helpless to stop it. I had a bad case of the procrastination disease as of late.
    My mom had been pushing me to sign up for a summer camp I'd been on the fence about for some time. I had gotten to the point that almost every day she would ask, “Have you applied for it yet?” and my answer would always be the same: “Not yet”. One day, I finally gave in and started the application. When I first opened it, the length of the application was frightening; it contained 5 or 6 different sections asking for extracurriculars, grades, general information, and, worst of all, essays. Initially, my motivation ran high, the questions were easy to answer, and it seemed that I should be able to get through it in no time. I requested the assistance of my parents for a few financial and personal questions, but for the most part, I had done it all on my own. Soon, I found myself in the essay section. This was the section that I had dreaded the most. Insightful prompts, 400 words, with 5 total prompts. I knew that the application required essays, and I knew that I would delay writing them. To fight this urge to just close the application and worry about it later, I wrote the prompts on a separate document for me to draft on. I had started the application late at night, so I called it a day after that and told myself that I would begin drafting by the next day. When the next day had arrived, I thought to myself, “When I get my work done, I’ll work on the essays”. The issue was that I also procrastinated my school work; I would work on it late at night, and thus, I would sleep right after finishing my work. This routine became the norm for a week, and before long, I had completely forgotten about the essays. Weeks passed without me even opening the document. Once in a while, I had thought of beginning the essays, but some part of me could not do it. I was split in two. I wanted to work on it, but I also don't because if I don't, I can relax more and spend more time doing other things. Suddenly, I found myself in the last week before the application was due. I had 7 days to draft and finalize each essay before it was due at 11:59. The pace of an essay per day was unsustainable, and I found myself lagging. The final day came, and I still had one essay left. I had written like I never had before; I wrote everything that came to mind. The downside is that the quality was not there, and I do not think I gave it my best effort.
    Procrastination plays a ginormous role in my life. It has been a part of my life for the better part of six years now. It has stuck with me like a shadow follows an object. The unfortunate reality is that I am aware of my severe problem, yet I do nothing about it. As of recently, now that junior year is a lot heavier and I need to get more things done, I have diminished the frequency of my procrastination. It still happens, and in a perfect world, I would not like to procrastinate at all. It's been a slow but very fruitful journey as I have been able to get a lot more work done and have more time for myself.

1. This essay is not very good. I'll take any and every suggestion you have