You know that saying that goes something like… the day you die you probably won’t look back and say you wished you had spent more time at work? I keep thinking about that concept, of looking back and evaluating what I’ve done. Doesn’t seem particularly important until you put that finality on it, that point where you realize you have little or no more time left to do other things.
So I started looking back with a different viewpoint. Back to the time when I first discovered and became a part of the online world. It was Prodigy, I believe, and Compuserve and a couple of others. It had to be around 1991. Even I can do that math in my head—twenty years. Twenty years of sitting in my chair, while my parents have passed on and my children have grown up around me. Twenty years of checking for new email, reading, learning, socializing and spending gawdawful amounts of time. It’s a wonder I don’t have calluses on my fingertips after TWENTY YEARS.
What has it got me? Well, lots of good things. A writing career and publishing contracts. Access to new clients for my business. Online classes putting me closer to my degree. New friends and a world of knowledge I’d likely not have come across otherwise. It’s kept me current and abreast of new technology. Kept me connected in more ways than I can count.
But I can’t help but wonder sometimes: how many hours have I spent in this chair? What have I missed? What could I have done with even half of those twenty years’ worth of hours? Times when my eyes were focused on the monitor when they could have been focused on my now-grown sons as they played on the floor. Hours when I could have learned a new skill I’d wanted to try, complaining that I didn’t have the time when really, I merely chose to spend that time surfing or chatting.
I don’t mean this reflection to sound too much like regret. I do, however, want to be sure I don’t spend another twenty with my face bathed in the glow of this 23” LED screen before me. On days when I remove myself from the chair, I am amazed at what I’m able to accomplish, with time left over to read, sit in the garden or actually clean out a cluttered cupboard or two. It’s quite liberating. It’s almost like waking up from a drug-induced haze.
Of course I don’t know how much time I have left. Forty years or forty days. Hell, it could be forty minutes. But whatever it is, I don’t want to go wishing I hadn’t spent so much time floating around in cyberland. So beginning today, I will be vacationing in the real world more often.
Will my absence be felt? Will Facebook be able to continue on without me? Will my 304 friends miss me and chat about where I might be? Do you think I’ll be chastised for not answering an email or text within 30 minutes?
Good thoughts, these. (Another saying I like is “work doesn’t love you back”. At least the work I used to have!) I think with anything it is all about balance. I absolutely LOVE blogging and reading, and wouldn’t want to lose that. But you don’t want to miss out on life either. It’s not easy to do it all. You will be missed, but will be happy knowing it isn’t because you are having trauma in your life, but that you are out enjoying it!