As A Master Procrastinator, I Have A Contradictory, Unpopular Opinion On Deadlines — I Need Them

Last night, not for the first time this semester, I contemplated quitting Odyssey again.

From what I've seen, it didn't seem uncommon for high school seniors to retire, especially with the added workload of multiple college application essays among living their final months with their high school friends to the fullest. But for me, it wasn't so much of either of those reasons at all. I have time to write Odyssey articles in addition to my college app ones. I have a lot less going on after school since marching season's over. I had time to hang out with friends in addition to writing articles now that I'm on Thanksgiving break (happy late Thanksgiving everyone!).

Mostly, it was just a matter of "not wanting to."

Because why, the little procrastination monkey inside my otherwise very logical brain reasoned, would you want to sit in front of a computer for a couple of hours worrying about grammar and "making sense" when you could flop on your bed and binge "Friends" on your friend's Netflix account that she forgot to log out of instead?

(If you're reading this, thanks for not logging out of your account, Grace!)

So why don't I?

Because I know that if I quit now, I'll probably never have the motivation to write these ridiculous, little nonsensical pieces ever again.

When I was throwing around the idea of quitting with a few of my friends last night, one of them suggested that I start my own blog and write/publish articles whenever I feel like it. But I knew right off the bat that I would never have the self-discipline to keep something like that up and running.

As much as they aggravate me, I NEED Odyssey's deadlines. I've tried to start up so many self-projects in my elementary, middle school and high school careers with writing novels, but not a single one of them has ever come close to completion because I can't seem to force myself to sit down and write properly on a schedule for extended periods of time.

I enjoy writing a lot. I enjoy telling my stories (as dull as they probably are), and to be honest, if it weren't for Odyssey and my beautiful and hard-working editor Marium on top of my deadlines like a hawk, I probably never would have been able to.

And since I'm now listing off things that I enjoy about writing for Odyssey, I'd like to go ahead and put out there that the thing that I enjoy most of all is hearing feedback from all of you readers. Those of you who reply to my Instagram or Snapchat stories about my articles literally MAKE MY DAY. Whether you're a close friends, a stranger or a distant acquaintance, I don't think I'll ever be able to express my appreciation (this is where I would usually enter a "less than three" heart emoticon, but apparently emoticons aren't allowed in formal Odyssey writing; you get the point).

This is going to suddenly take a really dark turn, but I've always thought that it'd be such a shame if I died one day with all these ideas in my head that were left unshared, regardless of whether they're of any value or not. Now, at least some of them are out there.

I love deadlines.