To Do or Not to Do
I've taken on far more than I should have over the past few months. Between my job, second job and volunteer job, I'd estimate that I work between 60 to 70 hours a week. This isn't something to take a perverse pride in - this is just perverse, and I have no one to blame for it but myself.
I'm not very good at "being" these days. I feel the constant need to set tasks for myself and then knock them down, one by one. Even right now, when I'm trying to be reflective, I'm persistently checking my e-mail and thinking about all the things I should be doing. I'm not sure what would happen if I tried to have a mug of tea and watch the world go by. My head would probably explode.
What's worse, I'm becoming dull. The daily events of my life used to provide a steady stream of anecdotes. I'd recount, for example, the time I helped Costa Rican hookers evacuate their worldly belongings as a fire swept through their tin shanties.*
Now, most of my stories revolve around e-mails, conferences and proposals. I can see people get more and more drowsy as I speak, and yet it's like I'm powerless to stop it. I have to force myself to not speak to people while they're driving, or else I'd cause the world's most boring accident.
I don't believe in New Years' resolutions, as I think they're an excuse for having 363 resolution-free days. So, I'm going to make an Easter Resolution. Here it is - I resolve to bring my work week to under 50 hours and make my life anecdote-friendly once again.
Anyway, here's a question for anyone who still reads this: Have you found that your life became more dull as you entered the working world and fell into a routine? If so, what have you done to keep it interesting? And if not, how'd you manage that?
* This happened.
Labels: boringness, dullness, zzzzzzzzzz
posted by Ryan @ 11:15 a.m.
4 comments
4 Comments:
I got dull. So I went back to school.
But seriously... keeping things interesting can be as easy as, on a Saturday morning, checking out a shop in your neighbourhood that you've never been to before. Or taking a random jaunt across town to poke around in a part of the city you've perhaps heard about, but never visited. Or, ordering a new drink at a pub -- I recommend something with an umbrella.
Sometimes, it's the little things that make the difference, y'know?
It's actually not so much that I'm bored - that's the one nice thing about being busy. Rather, when I do have the occasion to socialize, I spend all my time venting excess stress instead of actually relaxing and socializing.
I'm also running low on anecdotes. Do you know how long it's been since I drank moonshine or tried to pet a sloth? Like, AGES.
I became really boring in Toronto. All I would do was bitch about work or my roommate. It was awful. Now that I'm at school, all I do is bitch about school. It's a terrible cycle. My suggestion is to force yourself to do something outside of work. For example, joining a volleyball team has forced me to NOT talk about boring stuff because the team is all non-school people.
What about traveling? Weren't you going on a round the world trip? It's been so long since we've talked, I'm so out of the loop :(
E.,
Round the world is still not for a couple of years, unfortunately. A trip to Belize is planned in October, but that's still not for some time. There's not much to say, except that I've been really lame lately. Hopefully that changes now (see post above). Joining a volleyball team or finding some other kind of social hobby sounds like a good idea.
Cheers,
R.
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