Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 23, 2009
View from the Cheap Seats
Gotta go
Bill James
WmJamesJr@aol.com
As I get older, I find that I am less and less patient with sitting through events and meetings that are not readily apparent as the best use of my time.
Many of these time-stealers are things that I used to enjoy and some are even groups and activities that I used to have a great desire in which to take part.
Why has this happened? Is it because I have decided my time is more valuable than it used to be? Have my tastes and preferences for using my time changed? Am I just becoming cranky and obstinate as I fly into my mid 40s? In the end, I think all of these things are to blame for the itch in my seat I feel when things seem to be moving a little slowly or lasting a bit too long.
There are some events that just have to be fully experienced whether we like it or not. There are others that are simply better left not fully experienced. I have been to a number of concerts that I find myself ready to leave long before the final song. I get to a point that I have had enough and I am ready to move on to something else. Sometimes, it is just time to go home to go to bed.
Sleep may be one of the biggest reasons that I yearn for the end of things. Sleep is definitely something that I do not get too much of at this juncture of my life. There is some Sunday afternoons when all I do is sleep. Of course, all that does is make it hard for me to sleep that particular night and I start the week as tired as I was when I ended the last one.
Patti has told me that I simply do not relax enough. She may be on to something. Even when I find myself engaged in some type of leisure activity, my mind wanders off into a maze of events past, present and future. That cerebral wandering takes away from the little time I have allotted for leisure and relaxation.
I have always had a great respect for those individuals that are able to both work and play hard. I try to work hard and I want to play hard. Ironically, the desire to play hard often puts me in situations in which the “playing” portion of my life seems to be more of a burden than the working part. If you are at play and secretly wishing that you were working, then you need to re-evaluate.
What it all comes down to is prioritizing your time. There is no more than 24 hours a day. That is it. Better men and women than you have tried to make more of it than there is and have failed.
So, the point of this lecture is simply this:
Sometimes it is ok to just leave. If all you are doing is playing with your phone and dreaming of the exit, your time may be better spent elsewhere — even if that place is at home on the couch watching a rerun of Seinfeld.
I have spent many years in the CHEAP SEATS and can tell you that there are certainly worse places to be.
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