I've been thinking a lot about time recently, and how I'm not sure if I'm spending that which I have in a way that I'm satisfied with.
No longer being fulltime at my day job does return a significant chunk of my life to me. Additionally, I'm currently housesitting at an address that has my commute down to 20 minutes from 1 hour. The amount of time that is mine at the moment is staggeringly luxurious.
Still, there is never enough time to do all that I want to do.
Which indicates that I'm getting done all that I need to do, and that is already better than before. Being torn on the fact that I must decide between various pleasures is a wonderful conundrum.
(But is writing a pleasure or a necessity? I have made time for it, but it does not feel like enough.)
(And the freelance work? Is that work or play? How do I prioritise that?)
(Friends, I am still gorging myself on friendship and camaraderie, and I really should heed the introvert warning signs but-)
I'm not sure who I need to be stricter with; those around me asking for my time, or myself.
No longer being fulltime at my day job does return a significant chunk of my life to me. Additionally, I'm currently housesitting at an address that has my commute down to 20 minutes from 1 hour. The amount of time that is mine at the moment is staggeringly luxurious.
Still, there is never enough time to do all that I want to do.
Which indicates that I'm getting done all that I need to do, and that is already better than before. Being torn on the fact that I must decide between various pleasures is a wonderful conundrum.
(But is writing a pleasure or a necessity? I have made time for it, but it does not feel like enough.)
(And the freelance work? Is that work or play? How do I prioritise that?)
(Friends, I am still gorging myself on friendship and camaraderie, and I really should heed the introvert warning signs but-)
I'm not sure who I need to be stricter with; those around me asking for my time, or myself.
Time.
ReplyDeleteTime is the only commodity that we have an abundance of, yet always seem to be lacking in. Time is, truly, the only aspect of ourselves that we sell and trade with relative impunity.
We can never really waste time, for even when we consider the time lost, we have learned something. Whether it's about ourselves or about the world around us, we have still gained value from it.
In the end, as far as seems logical to most, the best use of time is spent doing what one loves.
I reached a similar question and I'm trying a new approach. It's based on two things:
ReplyDelete1. Balance. I have about 8 areas which need balancing: work, friends, spirituality, me, projects, exercise, play, romance & adventure.
Six of these were recommended by the artist book, and I've added two that are important to me. I've made lists for each of the areas, with the ideas for them.
2. Planning. I have set up a "planning" calendar based on this type of schedule. So far, I have set day-long placeholder events for every day in the calendar:
Mon/Wed/Fri: Creative Time.
Tue/Thu: Friends/Projects/Chores.
Sat: Unscheduled.
Sun: Planning.
When each Sunday comes around, I look at the next week, and my "Balance" lists, and replace the placeholder events with focuses for those days, e.g.
Mon: Film class
Tue: Friend dinner
Wed: Reading book
Thu: Girls Club prep
Fri: Artist tasks
I'm testing it out at the moment, and will write it up when I've tried it for a month or so! If it works well, I want to look at how I can plan for big dreams, too.
Fox: I like the idea of setting aside days for various tasks. I think I'll have to start doing that for writing, so I know I have time in any given week blocked out.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing I'm struggling with the most a the moment is fatigue, which can be unpredictable and the causes of which never seem equal to the affect. Fatigue steals time from every activity, it's a brain stall as well as physical. The sooner I stop being frustrated by it and just accept it, the less stressed out about it I'll get and the less impact it will have.
(This blog lied. It said I would receive a notification of followup comments and there was none!)
ReplyDeleteAnyway -- what sort of fatigue?
It's linked to fibromyalgia, a neurological condition I was diagnosed with a few years back, so unfortunately there's nothing particularly logical about it. An intense day at work will knock me out for two days, physical exhaustion can knock me flat for a week. Today, for example, I slept for 15 hours. I was home and resting yesterday, so the sleep doesn't seem warranted, but there it is.
ReplyDeleteFatigue means not being able to focus enough to watch mindless TV, let alone read or write. It eats time like nothing else.
Wow, that sucks. Incredibly. I just read the wikipedia page and I can't imagine... (wait no yes I can imagine something worse). I want to talk more about this on our date. (Not too much. Just a little!)
ReplyDelete