Time-Wasters

#103

I recently read an article on 25 things you need to stop wasting time on. Life is short. 

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of" - Ben Franklin

Among the 25 items, I felt 4 of them were most pertinent to our current situation, wherein we're boxed in, can't travel, can't visit others, and can't pretty much socialize in person for a while. So, let's figure out what's taking our precious time away and what we can do instead.

Here goes:

#1: Distractions

In life, there will be distractions, especially in a world of incessant notifications popping up. It's not all distractions you need to get rid of, it's those that keep you from creating special moments with special people. Meeting a friend or relative? Keep your phone in your bag. Give them your undivided attention. It's going to be these little things that'll matter to them then and to you in retrospect. Be there. Be present.

Little things matter, so pay more attention to them.

#2: Compulsive busyness

No matter what we tell ourselves, we ain't that busy! We can afford to take out time just to be with ourselves, introspect, be with nature, with silence, or simply meditate. Maintain your sanity by practicing to be peaceful from time to time. Compulsive busyness isn't cool. Being level-headed is.

#3: Negative thinking about your current situation

It's a downward spiral. Negative thoughts to worrying to sadness to depression. 

"Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere" - Glenn Turner

If you can take action on what you're worrying about, just do it. Else, write all your worries down in one place. Either crumple up and discard that piece of paper or else look at it at a later date. Postpone your worry. Or schedule it. Whatever works for you!

#4: Needless Drama

Be wise to walk away from the nonsense around you. Step one is to identify the nonsense around you. Step two is to figure out how you're going to say no to it. Shutting off chaos really helps. My phone, the OnePlus Nord has a wonderful feature called the Zen Mode. Enabling it for an hour helps me focus on my task.

Practice focusing on the positives around you. Trust me, there are plenty.

Overall, take a step back and reassess what really matters to you. 

Cheers!