I work full time. Monday to Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. I go to school 3 nights a week from 7 to 10, and all day Saturday. I exercise (almost) every day, and participate in 2 or 3 craft swaps a month. I build sets and props for a community theatre company on a regular basis. I knit or sew most of my own clothes, and what I didn't make from scratch, I've altered. Nearly everything in my diet is scratch made at home.
Let me guess. You're wondering how I manage to do all that.
It's easy. I don't believe in downtime. The way I see it is this: On any given evening, I could be sitting on my couch watching TV. That's what I'm given to understand most people do.
Except I don't understand that. I've seen every episode of the Walking Dead. I've watched and rewatched all of Sons of Anarchy. I can recite bits and pieces of the Big Bang Theory.I love TV. What I don't love is sitting still. You don't actually have to watch TV most of the time- take TBBT for example. 99% of the time they're in Sheldon and Leonard's apartment. You know what it looks like already. Heck, you know where Sheldon is sitting! You can get just as much enjoyment out of listening to TBBT as you can watching it. Why not get crafty or physical while enjoying it? Multi-tasking for the win!
If I'm in front of the TV, I'm knitting or pinning a sewing project or running in place. Heck, if we're watching a video in class, it's a good bet I'm knitting if we're not supposed to be taking notes. My craft table is right there by the TV, and it's as good a place to put the cutting board and chop veggies to freeze so I have them ready for my next cooking extravaganza. (When it comes down to it, prep is the time-consuming bit of cooking.)
I put my lunch hours into working on the sets for the theatre. I'm lucky that the warehouse we work out of is very close to my workplace to facilitate that.
I often hear people say that they just need time to zone out and recharge. That attitude is wrongheaded, in my opinion. What really does the recharging is shifting your attention to a new subject. When it comes right down to it, sitting in an office looking at a computer screen is physically no different from watching TV. It's not going to refresh you no matter how much you want it to.
Jesse James was asked how he managed to build his business in the evenings after a full day doing manual labour for a pay cheque. His answer was simple. He never sat down. He came home and went directly to his garage to work on custom projects. The couch is a trap. Saying you're just going to relax for ten minutes is a lie. Ten minutes turns into 30, turns into an hour, and the next thing you know, the day's gone.
And then the week's gone, and the month, and the year.
We know what comes after that, don't we?
Never stop moving. There's always something to do, and you can accomplish a lot of it right there in the living room with your family.
*image from thesprucetunnel.wordpress.com
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