What is Time Well Spent When Society Profits Off Time Wasted?
We’ve shifted our focus back to needing to participate and become active in our own lives, while corporations continue to profit off us wasting our time with aimless purpose.
I lost a friend this week. Gun violence. The same story we see on the news every day, except this time it was different. This time it was a face that I knew personally, an energy that meant something to me, an individual that directly affected people I care about it. He took his last breaths and never even saw 30. His time ran out.
Since his death, all I can think about is, “What am I doing with my time?” My screentime hit nine hours the other day. Nine-freaking hours. I’m disgusted. My friend’s family would kill to have nine more hours with their son/brother/cousin, and here I am with nine hours I could’ve spent doing SO many things, but chose to spend it committing to aimless scrolling.
I also had a situation where I made plans to meet someone and he ghosted me. Given the circumstances, my emotions may have been heightened, but I felt so utterly disrespected by his lack of care for my time. What if I was gone tomorrow, and I spent all of yesterday waiting to see if somebody felt I was worthy of their time? Or maybe I’m shifting responsibility when in reality I am in charge of who I share my time with, and because of that should be more particular.
All I know is something has to change, and that change can begin today, right now. I know the odds are against us, I mean Instagram is LITERALLY against us in our fight against wasting time. I’m going to start by making a list of things that are important to me, and prioritize what is of value to me. I’ll start with my first three:
Reading. I’d like to get back to spending idle time with my nose in a book, instead of blind scrolling through my feed.
Writing. Last month, I spiraled into a world of rediscovering my love for writing, but that spark has long passed. Now I find myself wanting to reunite my relationship with daily writing.
Fitness. I’ve proven to myself, long ago, that I am a better person when I’m physically active. I think most people are, at least health-wise. I’ve always been an athlete, I went to university on a full athletic scholarship even. My issue is I have no balance, I either work out like I’m preparing for competition, or I don’t at all. I need to find a happy medium, asap.
So there it is, this is how I’m adjusting my time, and upgrading it from time wasted, to time I’ve classified as well-spent. It’s bizarre that we even have these inner divides, and conflicts with ourselves. Life used to be so simple, and the options were far less. Now we have access to any and everything at our fingertips, yet we participate much less. Let’s switch it up!
