On the ignorance of practical matters
When one is passionate about, and pursuing, a few serious fields of study, it can be very difficult to take care of the "practical" things in life.
I don't mean working. I can usually take care of that, since I've really enjoyed all the jobs I've had (my dad's business, OIT NOC, 240 TA, software engineering, web dev). And cleaning isn't a big deal -- I work better when my spaces are clean anyway.
Bills are also fine because it's 2021 and if you're not using autopay by now I don't know what to tell you.
I'm talking about things like
- Insurance. For example, with my allergist (who, mind you, is very good). My allergy prescription regime is working quite well; I don't want to take time away from my studies and personal projects to have another appointment when I really just need prescription refills. But, idk, medical policies or something mean you have to do x/y/z, due to boring law policy #30894894l, honestly I have no idea and I just don't care. I keep ignoring the phone calls because there is a bunch of weird things about my BYU insurance which may not cover something or it will be really expensive or...I don't know; I have no clue how that works, but I DO know it's going to be a pain. And I don't want to deal with having to figure it out. Plus I really, really don't want to have to make a bunch of phone calls -- taking time away from my writing, coding, math, music, fitness, theme parks, and art/animation -- to get everything sorted out. So, I keep putting it off, which is really bad. I am probably not establishing very good relations with their front office right now, and I should probably take care of it before they charge me an inconvenience fee or something.
- Non-essential purchases and repairs. For example, having to exchange something takes me months, because I don't technically NEED the money back right away, and I don't technically HAVE to do it right now, and because it will cause me to screw up everything else I'm trying to do. Errands can take way too much time, especially if there's traffic.
- Tax returns. My dad always calls me and coaches me through it using Turbo Tax (thanks Dad!) , and oh, the season is almost upon us isn't it? I still don't get what it is, and I don't really want to invest the time to get it.
- Phone calls, like voicemails from my allergist's office asking me about rescheduling for the 3rd time because of insurance issues. Ugh. Need I say more?
- 401Ks. I don't know what they are. I could probably figure that out without too much difficulty. But, ehhhhh.
I just -- I don't know. I don't care. I don't have time for this crap. It's boring. I just want to pursue my passions and forget about everything else.
Cal Newport calls these "mosquito" tasks. I try to force myself to do them, but it is so easy to just slide it to the next section of your Trello board to do "later".
I suppose that these are just things we have to get through at some point, like it or not.
Anyway I need to stop putting off homework, so!
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