Why It's Important to Procrastinate (Sometimes)

The first draft of my thesis is due a week from Monday. So, like any responsible student who can't stand to write at home, I planned to spend my Friday night at a coffee shop. My normal go-to is Diesel Cafe in Davis, although on Friday nights it can be a bit of a challenge to find a seat (unless I wanted to sit at a high-top for four hours. Constructive writing is produced only with a certain level of comfort involved that, let's face it, does not occur for a short person at a tall table). But since I'll be working at my new temp job at least through the beginning of May, I thought I should probably stick to the neighborhood a bit.

After a short, 10-minute walk from my office, I was in Central Square at Cafe Luna. The nighttime atmosphere is a little fancier, with a specials dinner menu and white tablecloths (and white paper!) at every table. I greatly enjoyed lasagna and a beer, set up my computer, and got down to some serious revisions. That is, until a poetry reading began sprouting up all around me.

Before I knew it I was talking to the woman at the table next to mine more than I was looking at my computer. And despite the owner's insistence that I stay no matter how busy it got (being Midwestern, I always shy away from taking up social space with my work), I kept feeling the pull to close my laptop, order another beer, and enjoy networking with some other area writers. The pull kept fighting with some fading voice in my backpack, crying out, "Your thesis! Your stories! We need you!"

I zippered my computer in my backpack and had gone so far as to get my check when my table neighbor's friends and sisters arrived, urging me to stay, taking the rest of my table, and ordering wine. I sent the check back. One more beer, I said to myself, and I will go. But then my new friends started asking me about myself, telling me about themselves, distracting me from the fact that the poetry reading was starting, and oh why would I leave before I heard my table-neighbor's sister and friend read? I wouldn't of course. So I stayed. And eventually I shook my head at the cute waiter when he asked if I was ready for the check. So he stopped asking.

By the end of the night I had met two poets, listened to some moving poetry and memoir, donated a little bit of cash to Haiti, and swapped emails with people who had been strangers just three hours before. I couldn't even remember what the voices in my backpack sounded like. And that's when I realized that sometimes, depending on the activity, putting off your work in favor of something else is far more valuable. If I had left, I might have gotten my story revised, but I would have missed out on everything else, which was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I might have gotten one step closer to finishing my thesis draft, but I wouldn't have met the poet populist of Port-au-Prince.

So I had to get up early this morning to work on what I didn't get to last night. So what? Totally worth it. I encourage you all, next time you are faced with what could be a unique, once-in-a-blue-luna kind of experience, to consider putting off studying for two more hours and take a chance. That's right, I'm giving you permission. Don't make me regret it!