Wasting Time

I’ve stopped watching t.v.  It’s been a recent event, but it has been an eye opener for me.  I hate to think of all the wasted hours sitting in front of that thing, zoned out of my own life.  There has been a few things that I have notice during this last few weeks of not having my electronic babysitter in front of me.

First, I have a whole lot more time on my hands.  It’s the exact same amount of time I have always had, but my brain doesn’t get the chance to check out.  Hence, I get a whole lot of projects done, and I seem to have a lot more time to do things.  For example, I spent the entire day last Friday getting projects done.  When 8 p.m. rolled around I was not sure what the hell to do with myself.  I was contemplating going fishing, but it was getting dark.  

Second, I pay a lot more attention to my wife and kids.  At least it seems that way.  I play trivial pursuit with my 7 year old.  She reads the questions, with some help, and I try to answer them without using google.  We do it every night before bed.  She loves it, and lets be honest, my brain could use the workout.

I have wasted a lot of time in my life doing stupid things.  But most of those granted me a few memories at least.  T.V. never did that.  I can’t remember a single time that I have a memory of something on T.V., except possibly 9/11 or the Challenger tragedy.  But those two don’t count.

Maybe I’m starting to feel the clock ticking as I get older.  I don’t know.  I guess it really doesn’t matter.  What does matter is that I have recognized the fact that I can easily fall into that trap of wasting the time I do have.  I think I’ll continue down this road for a while, and see where I end up.

Time is a precious thing.  We only get so much of it.  It’s too bad it took me until 45 years old to realize that.