Summer Goeth Before the Fall

Wow! Can you believe it?!? Back on Sept. 22 Fall began for the year 2017. What happened? It seems only a month or two ago that husband Doug & I were enjoying our trip to Thailand and Vietnam. Only a few weeks ago that the Good to Go Gang was enjoying a cruise to Germany, Denmark and other countries once roamed and conquered by the Vikings. Now… football season is about half over and we are seeing Christmas decorations popping up in stores all over our nation.

Often overheard are conversations like “Can you believe this year is almost over?” Yes. We can. It’s because we fill our lives with activities that make the time appear to speed by. When we are asked “What are you up to/doing?” or “How are you?”, we often answer “Busy.” Trying to coordinate a free day for a family get-together seems an insurmountable task due to work, school, sports, holidays, and a multitude of other time intensive events. It’s amazing how little time we seem to have or, maybe it’s like the old saying “Life is like a roll of toilet paper: the closer you get to the end the faster it goes.”

We were told years ago how much we, as a society, would benefit from all these new-fangled gadgets and their time-saving capabilities… In that regard, it appears as if we bought, and continue to buy, a bill of goods. While computers, smart phones, fitbits and more do provide a great benefit to us, they can also steal a disproportionate amount of time and energy from our lives. We were originally told computers would enable us to do our jobs so effectively that we would only have to work four days a week. The reality was it enabled us to do so much more, companies saved billions by having just one employee do the work of two. Making us even busier than ever.

Have you ever stopped to calculate the amount of time we spend on our “time-saving” devices? Doug voluntarily stopped posting on social media several months ago and has already had extra time to do shows in Dallas and Kansas, clean out the garage and convert what had become a storage room back into a guest bedroom. Now, I’m certain he would have rather spent time kibitzing with his friends online than clean the garage, but as we prioritize our time, we both understood that “something had to give” and he opted for “Doing” rather than “Posting”. Six days of experiencing life rather than arguing politics, seeing what someone had for dinner and wishing “happy birthday” to casual acquaintances. It proved to be a good decision and a more productive use of time and yielding tangible results.

This certainly points out just how much total time was spent in brief 5 min., 30-min. and longer sessions online. It also points out how easily we can become distracted from what’s going on around us while we are engrossed in watching a baby elephant walk for the first time… or whatever current video/photo is “trending” on the internet.

Take time to visit a friend. Enjoy a cup of coffee and read an actual newspaper from beginning to end without glancing at your iPhone every time it beeps, giggles or snorts. Go for a walk. Watch the sun set. Balance your online life with your real life because before you know it, summer is gone and it’s already Fall.