"OH CRAP" is the resounding thought as the beginning of the new school year creeps closer. Your summer that you wished would last forever is seemingly sprinting towards the finish line of a race you didn't want to start. Some were prepared ahead of time. Their bags were already packed and ready to be toted away by the family minivan. They're dreading the day they move in, but have come to accept that fact. As for the rest of us, it's a different story..
When I say "the rest of us," I mean us procrastinators. Or as I like to call us, the PRO-crastinators. You know who you are. For all of you like me out there, here's some things you should've done (but haven't yet) in preparation for the school year.
1. "Out with the old, in with the new."
This phrase is probably significant to you if you haven't started sorting through your old stuff from the previous year. At this time, you've probably realized that you never really unpacked since returning home for the summer. In fact, you haven't even moved those boxes since your return. Now that move-in day is just within reach, even looking at the boxes of your still-packed things feels like a chore. What's more of a chore is thinking about the things you'll have to purchase and collect for the new year. But you'll get to all of that.. eventually.
2. Pack Clothes
The most tedious and time consuming activity of all. Not only do you have to consider what to pack that's appropriate for the season, but you also have to consider when to pack it as to have the maximum amount of outfit combinations available for your last days at home. Because how can you be sure of what you'll want to wear for the next few days? Due to this fact, this activity is usually performed at the very last minute. The result of this is over-packing and choosing to take everything in your closet (even your winter coat). Which honestly, is not a bad idea. So yeah, it won't hurt to wait a few more days.
3. Purchase Textbooks
If you're anything like me, buying textbooks for the semester is the last thing on your mind. You'd prefer to wait until your courses begin to determine which textbooks you'll need in order to save money. Or at least that's what you tell your mother when she asks if you've purchased your textbooks. In reality, you just don't want to worry about it right now. Why would you if you have an entire syllabus week to figure it out? You probably haven't even thought about it because it's not your first rodeo. You know the best websites to find the cheapest textbooks and fast. You're a pro at this, and if you're not, you will soon become one.
4. Complete Summer Assignments
We've all been in high school once (and hopefully just once). We all remember those summer reading assignments that should have been named "last-week-of-summer reading assignments," amiright? Even for those that have repressed all memories of high school (I don't blame you), you probably still remember speed reading hundreds of pages of a novel in a week that you should've been reading all summer in order to avoiding failing one of your first assignments of the semester. Year after year, you'd tell yourself that you'd never do it again, but we all know you did. You also hoped that once you moved on to higher education (or college, gross), you would reform your ways. But really, you just find that you've become better at putting it off until the last possible second, but also better at speed-reading. Good for you.
No matter what it is, we all have a tendency to procrastinate only to have our own little "oh crap" moment every time. You can tell yourself that you won't do it again, but we PRO-crastinators know that you will. You'll find that the more you put things off, the more efficient you become at doing things at the last minute. It may be stressful, but it gets the job done. You might become frustrated with yourself for procrastinating, but it's okay, and you'll come to accept it and become a PRO-crastinator.. eventually.
