Then again, there are those subjective chunks of time that might have been better spent in productive activities...but what if the reading/dreaming/gardening that was done instead is vital to the more "responsible" hours spent in productivity? You'll notice I didn't say "surfing" in that list.
Not to knock surfing the web--I've spent hours on Ebay and Ruby Lane, browsing page after page of old dolls. Pinterest? They should have called it The Black Hole Of Time. I tell myself I'm seeking inspiration. But that always feels like a waste after I've done it, so I suspect my subconscious is trying to tell me something. I end up with a gillion ideas--scattering what focus I've managed to gather--and very little EVER becomes of it.
One thing I have noticed is this: when I do chores with TV as an entertainment, I experience more general time-panic that week--even though I'm getting my chores done. If I do chores with silence or with music, I have less. It's as if the chore is more satisfying, or I was multi-tasking, only without the anxiety. I'm thinking/dreaming/solving while I work, instead of letting the TV use that time for me. But I love Madmen! I deserve that mental junk food! I do.
But as with food, too much of a good thing makes us...well, fluffy. I don't want a fluffy body, and I REALLY don't want a fluffy mind. So I will get out of this computer chair and into the laundry room. There is ironing to be done, and thoughts to be thunk. And then doll parts to paint. And a dog to bathe, and bills to pay, and floors to sweep, and...
What do you do to tame the time-panic?
First question is: Who's voice am I listening to? Is it really mine or am a reacting to some old rhetoric that was pressed on me in an earlier age that makes me feel I must perform a certain way? Second: It's a quality of life issue. Life is more than just what we get accomplished. It's also being able to relax and allow yourself in indulge now and then. Like that bit of chocolate Pinterest, eBay,TV can be little indulgences that we allow ourselves simply "because" we enjoy them. Overdone, of course, they can become a waste of time but again, by who's standard? Want to watch Madmen? Watch Madmen ONLY put down the knitting and watch. You can't really thoroughly enjoy either one that way. Some one recently wrote a column about multitasking in which they stated "multitasking is actually impossible" - you're really only doing one thing at a time and switching rapidly between the two (or more) so none are receiving the attention they deserve. Bottom line? Is any of it really worth the physical/mental/emotion damage done by stressing yourself out over it? It took me way too many years to learn to stop and listen to my own heart - not those devil-on-my-shoulder voices going around in my head. :)
ReplyDeleteI wanta follow this Peachey girl around! ;-)
DeleteYou'd get bored REALLY quickly, Dixie! HaHa
DeleteI have too many thoughts about this to make much sense. Yes, I think we always have more time than we think we do, and no, we can't do everything. Pinterest is relaxing for me to put the little things in categories. SO relaxing when so much in life can't be categorized well. :-) TV I don't watch much but I sure do get sucked into other things. I'm trying to recover joy in making things, and not just feel like I "should be" doing something.
ReplyDeleteIt's a huge Gordian Knot, isn't it, this issue of time. I wasn't dissing Pinterest, though it is a HUGE time-suck for me. But I don't find it relaxing, I find it makes me think I should be using it more efficiently! You can imagine how counterproductive that is. I'm glad you're rediscovering joy in making things--you're good at it, and bless the world with the beauty you create.
DeleteWould it be safe to say that "those who can, do; and those who can't, Pin it?" That's the way is seems to work out with many of my friends and students.
DeleteMaybe that's true for some, but for others it's a good way to pin down ideas (ha!) for later use. There are lots of patterns and tutorials on Pinterest that are of great value! I just have to be careful with it, because it's easy to get lost in all those ideas!
DeleteI need more exclamation marks!!!
DeleteI love Pinterest, it reminds me of when I was a young child and used to spend hours looking through my Mams catalogue to see what I wanted for Christmas, same joy but now my joy is in just looking a all the lovely dolls in awe.
ReplyDeleteBut like you Jan, if I spend to long on the computer I think I should have been making things or doing house work.