Procrastinate

adjourn, be dilatory, cool, dally, dawdle, defer, drag, gain time, goldbrick, hang fire, hesitate;

I should be writing my thesis.

hold off, lag, let slide, linger, loiter, pause, poke, postpone, prolong, protract, put off, retard;

I'll be starting my new job in late January and then I won't be able to focus on it as much.

shilly-shally, stall, stay, stooge around, suspend, tarry, temporize, wait;

I've done everything but.

boondoggle, diddle, dilly-dally, fool around, fool with, fritter away, hang about, horse around, idle;

But sometimes its healthy to procrastinate. It is a time for thinking. I have a habit of keeping items or tokens of things that I've done in my life. Stubs from movies I've seen, invites to parties that I've attended, train and plane tickets, letters written and cards received. I file these away into folders. Unfortunately not every event has its momento. Sorting out these odds and ends brings back memories. The last time I did this was probably back in '97. I kept things that at the time I thought I should throw away. They caused pain. But I kept them. When I look through these bits of history during these times of reflection and they still cause pain, then I throw them away. I did that the last time I sorted through my life when I came across some letters I received. I've only done that on a few occassions because sometimes those once hurtful items bring back memories of the good times shared. Then I keep them. Time does soften some regrets, but not all. I came across some very recent objects that depressed me but I resisted the urge to throw them away. It's too close in time. Maybe in a few years I'll look back and smile and be thankful for those memories.