It's About Time

Having found myself to be unemployed for the past six months - longer than any other personal "streak", including winning The Game (*drat!*) - I've come to learn a lesson or few.

Today, after pondering my current standing in life and reflecting upon what I've accomplished and how my time has been spent, I learned a big lesson: How busy we are is inversely proportional to how well we prioritize. Think about it for a minute: How busy would you be if you ONLY had to do the absolutely necessary things - eat, sleep - on your agenda? Doesn't that sound boring?

I'm beginning to realize how much truth there is in the principle of work. We NEED to be busy. Perhaps not 100% of the time, but we DO need to be busy. Over the past six months, there was scarcely a day where I did nothing. There were several occasions where I read books, messaged friends on gchat or Facebook, spent hours writing an important email, cooked a delicious meal, planned a church activity, made a gift, called a family member or friend, paid a bill, shopped online... and the list goes on. But how many of these activities were actually important? A lot fewer than when I was working, that's for sure!

There has been one part if all this I don't yet understand fully: I have felt more satisfaction from my leisure activities than ever before! I think this may be because I don't feel as rushed to enjoy my leisure activities (what an interesting concept - rushed enjoyment). I know that I have time to enjoy many of my recreational endeavours, instead of being worried about how long I have left before my next shift at work!
In spite of how much more I enjoy my recreation now, I do feel it is important to work. And, I now know that regardless of how busy I feel, all I really need to do is to prioritize, to focus on the necessities and the things that will provide the greatest benefit, before filling my time with other pastimes like Facebook... or blogs...