Avenger Penguin

It is often highlighted that given any proverb, one can find another that supposedly contradicts it. "Many hands make light work" preaches the value of sharing a work load over many people whilst "too many cooks spoil the broth" warns us of the perils of and the complications from having too many people on a project.

Such contrast serves as a facetious jab at those that would run their lives on proverbial wisdom, but it misses an important point that these sayings are less about absolutes than they serve as warnings against extremes. Namely, being wary of too many cooks does not mean smaller numbers are preferable, but that there will always be a threshold above which adding more people to a task will be counterproductive.

Two phrases -- they are more clichés than proverbs -- that have been of some significance to me in recent times, are "you're still young" and "life is short". The former is the usual, stoic response to any ithy-footed youth from an elder acquaintance. It advocates patience where a younger person anxiously desires to experience more from life with a strong sense of immediacy.

In contrast (or contradiction?), the latter warns of hesitation over activities and projects; it shows the possibility of one's lifespan ending before achieving all desired goals. Clearly, one can take from it that hesitation is an unnecessary delay.

Again, if we interpret both phrases as advice to avoid extremes (as opposed to a contradiction per se), then the advocacy is for a life patiently building towards ambitions without creeping into procrastination.

It is the procrastination-patience border that I find most notable at this stage of my life. For over four years, I have slowly been forced to put on the shelf ideas, projects, trips and events while I move total assets from a large negative number to a respectable figure in the black.

Paying off creditors and building up savings is, of course, sensible and necessary before doing anything drastic or risky in life. The question comes as to whether enough has been saved to invest in amibitions and goals.

It is on this point that the patience advocates remind that another year of waiting means another year of finances built up. It means another year of forming plans, trying things out and gauging a more stable time to strike. However, one could also argue that in a year's time one could wait a further twelve months and squirrel away even more.

It is when I encounter the attitude of "I'll do it next year" that I see signs of procrastination. Exposing the delay as such then surfaces further questions of "when have I planned enough?" or "when do I have enough saved?". Increasingly, I find the parallel between these questions and the ever-consuming person seeking happiness through acquiring more possessions; if you always need more to be happy or fulfilled, then you shall never be so.

Thus, armed with a solid plan of projects, finances, fallbacks and exit strategies, I am looking to achieve and do more of latent short term ambitions and make up for things I was unable to do for the latter half of the last decade.

I will be trying to keep the blog updated with each activity as it comes up. Expect more festivals, trips, ventures and other general ideas as they come to me.