Almost everyone procrastinates. It is so easy to do because it is just avoiding what you have to do or putting it off for a later time. The hard part, sometimes, is ignoring the voice in your head telling you that you should maybe start that essay now or the notification on your calendar that says your exam is next week, go study.

I have gotten rather good at the ignoring and the backlogging.

It is not a good thing, and it is something I often try to change because procrastination is satisfying in the moment, but it usually results in sleep deprivation and severe anxiety when the deadlines become too immediate.

Though I know it is a terrible habit, and it is one I seek to rid myself of in the future, I will say that I do not regret the times I have procrastinated in the past... well, not all of the times. Some, I could have avoided, and I wish I did. However, there are moments that I cannot bring myself to fully regret.

Often, procrastination has lead to my best writing works.

I have found that I work rather well under pressure.

At first, my mind seizes up, and I cannot even muster enough thought to know if I should sit on the left or right side of the couch. Then, I look at the limited hours I have, and I start writing. Sure, you could say I could have written great essays or articles much earlier and saved myself the stress (maybe you would be right, too) but there is one thing I stand by.

At each moment of my life, I am a different person from who I was previously even if it is in the smallest ways. I may have learned something new that day or shifted my perspective the slightest due to new data and an experience. So, the me who would have written that piece much earlier was not the same me sitting down and trying to finish her project before the midnight deadline, to get at least three hours of sleep before having to wake up for an 8:30 a.m. lecture, or to complete it for the class starting in five minutes.

I believe in those moments, I had found and used words I would not have thought of outside of that time crunch. I would not have ordered them the same way. My train of thought and reasoning would have been a bit different, so the arguments I made would have been altered. I would not have juxtaposed this with that or had thought of this witty phrase to add humor. At every second, I am a different writer, and no past me could ever write the same as a current me and vice versa because as I change, so does my writing.

Though procrastinating is too stressful to rely on forever nor do I want to rely on it, I value the times before where I did do so. I wrote things that could have only been created in those circumstances, and I love many of the things I managed to come up with with a ticking clock over my head. I do want to stop procrastinating in the future, but for now, I will acknowledge the role it has played in my creative process in the past.

With what has procrastination helped you?