Image by Kenny Zhang on Unsplash.
Ode to Avolition
Those lacking in expedition
are victims of avolition.
Opposite of blind ambition,
slingshot with no ammunition,
no task brought to its fruition.
Old stories with no new edition,
goals lacking ample nutrition
sink into utter perdition,
prompting purpose’s sedition,
birthing lethargy’s tradition.
What prompted this poem written at 4 a.m.this morning? This Skype conversation with Forgottenman. I woke up at 1 a.m. after 4 hours sleep. He was still awake, thus a three hour conversation that included these lines:
The new strings are right there. I just can’t. I might be this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avolition
Avolition, as a symptom of various forms of psychopathology, is the decrease in the ability to initiate and persist in self-directed purposeful activities.[1] Such activities that appear to be neglected usually include routine activities, including hobbies, going to work and/or school, and most notably, engaging in social activities. A person experiencing avolition may stay at home for long periods of time, rather than seeking out work or peer relations.
Thanks for the prompt, Forgottenman, unintentional as it was. Couldn’t fall asleep until I practiced the opposite of avolition, resulting in this poem.
And, why not just link with dVerse Poets??? HI, Guys. Missed the live reading, but…just a case of avolition!!!
And here is the regular link to dVerse Poets.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
Great poem, because it points out the negative part of our inaction, but I never liked to use the word Avolition, because to me it can be accusative, as it is only the symptom of the action of delaying or postponing something, therefore (to me) there is no direct action involved in ONESELF, or myself, as the case may be, who is so bad at it. Now I do like to use the word procrastination which is the ACTION of delaying or postponing something, often pointing the finger at ME~!.
So we should avoid procrastination, but so often we accuse others of the result of avolition~! See I commented on this post at 5:00-am because if I had put it off, I would be procrastinating and later you would be telling others about the results (or lack of) my avolition…..
Ha~! It is still early in the weekend and I can only hope that by the end of (today) I will have gotten rid of my “JACKASS” attitude, and be a nice guy again. Now if the sun will just come up, I have a water leak to fix, unless I invoke the “mañana” syndrome and do a little procrastinating, but then water all over the place will be evidence of my Avolition . HA~!
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I had never heard the word before Forgottenman introduced me to it.
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Auch an apt definition post
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Inaction has so many causes, but the first reaction is always to blame laziness… in some cases though I think it is due to procrastination… There is always something else that is more interesting to do.
This is favorite TED talk I love
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Thanks, Björn. I loved the talk. Must admit I did my thesis in two weeks! Lots of NoDoz and my two best friends and sister running the pages across town to the typist but I got it done!!!!
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I’m definitely guilty of avolition — I can visualize a project completed and never begin the project!
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and I thought I was the weird and funky one…
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Never do today, what you can put off until tomorrow.
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Inaction….in itself an action? Loved this in terms of all the rhyming and rhythm of it. Well done.
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