Procrastinating

January, this year, has been a month of procrastination.  Doing anything other than what I should really be doing. Yes, you've guessed, my tax return.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who invariably leaves it until the deadline is looming. Having put it off and put it off, for three weeks now, with just over a week left to file it, I have finally got my head down and done the work necessary to complete it.

It's not like I haven't had the time, as things have been quiet on the business front this January, it's just that I've been consciously and subconsciously avoiding it, for as long as I possibly could.  This week, however, it was starting to weigh more heavily on my mind (hence the shopping binge I think) and preventing me from doing anything at all, so I forced myself to get started.

Don't get me wrong, filing my tax return isn't a particularly onerous task, it's just that I really don't like any kind of form filling. Passport applications and other such official documentation also get the same treatment from me.  They usually get completed at the last possible moment. I sometimes wonder how I've managed not to create more problems for myself, as a consequence of this approach.

Every year I vow to file it earlier, but more often than not I still leave it until the last week or so. I did organise much of the paperwork and make many of the calculations earlier in the year, which was a distinct improvement, and did help me to complete it fairly swiftly, but I could do better.

The feeling when the job is done is one of complete and utter relief and liberation. Well, it would be, but I still have some National Insurance issues and other official paperwork to do this week, that I've also been avoiding.  I suppose life can't always be about doing the nice, fun things.

If anyone out there still has to file theirs, I can empathize.

Is there anything that you really hate doing?