How Do You Do It?

Lost time is never found again. ~ Benjamin Franklin


There are so many ways to describe what we do with time: we spend time or save time; we have time or we don't; we are out of time or in time; we find time or we lose time; we give time or take time; we use time or plan time; we waste time or cut back on time; and perhaps this is the best of all: we make time. 


Just how do we make something that we don't even know exists? Physicists are still coming up with theories about what time actually is (or isn't), yet we set our habits according to the clock, days of the week, month, or year.


So, theories aside, this is the existence we know, and unless we are prisoners, we get to choose how to spend our time, from moment to moment. For me it comes down to what to do in the present. Of course we have obligations we have to attend to, but we at least have a choice about the sequence in which we do these and how we mix the things we enjoy doing with those we don't.


Last night I logged onto my Twitter account, which I hadn't maintained for four months. I felt like I had abandoned a fledgling bird or something. And then several questions came to me that I will pose to you all. With all the choices of social media we have, how do you have time for it all? How do you decide when to do Facebook, post something on your blog or website, check your text messages or your email, IM your friends, surf the Internet, watch television, or read the latest novel on your eReader? Do you do all of these, or do you choose which of these to maintain and which not to? 


Imagine this: five new college graduates sitting by a swimming pool, each with a laptop in front of him. The kicker here is that they were all sending messages to one another! This was a real-life situation at a get-together during the recent holiday.


This is in such contrast to the Amish life I grew up in. At the same time I am sitting in front of this computer, my cousin might be driving a horse and buggy to her sister's to visit for the day. I am wondering whether this is one of the reasons why the Amish still have such a close-knit community. Because they have fewer distractions, they have more time to interact with one another.  And we wonder how it is that they have such a sense of community that the rest of us can only envy. While we visit our virtual friends online, the Amish are still visiting one another in person. 


So I have several questions about this: how many hours a day do you spend doing any, some, or all of the above-mentioned things?


The reason I ask is because I don't do Facebook, IMing, text messaging, watch television, or read my books on an electronic device, and I still have a screen in front of my face way too many hours in a day. While I am contemplating more balance in my life, I will go do my laundry and pay my bills. Maybe I will create time to do the things I like after that -- maybe David and I can sit in our living room and enjoy tea and conversation after an evening bike ride.


So how do you maintain balance in your life?