Recently I stumbled across Christie’s blog called So what? Now what? Îwhen participating in a Midlife Share the Love Link Party hosted by Sue, author of another of my favourite blogs,  Sizzling Towards 60 and beyond. 

One of the great things about participating in a blog link party, is the opportunity to meet fellow bloggers, and to read blogs on a very diverse range of topics. Generally, I read blogs on the topics of fitness and genealogy and not much else. I really enjoyed discovering many other lifestyle blogs which are now on my regular reading list. I will post links to my favourites in a later post.

The topic of Christie’s blog, Are you wasting precious time, really piqued my interest and gave me cause to stop and think. Christie asks: If pastimes such as reading, add enjoyment and value to your life, can they be considered to be time-wasting?

So much of what I do daily could be (and I know is), construed by some as wasting time – reading, blogging, cycling, hiking, gym, spending time with my dogs, watching the chooks, sitting on the verandah.

I still have a busy work life, and sometimes the hold on activities that I love, becomes very tenuous. But these activities are extremely important to my well being, and have been for years. So important that I can’t imagine living a meaningful life without them.

The activities that I love, are scheduled into my calendar in the same way I would schedule my work hours or a doctors appointment.  In my world they are daily jobs to be done, and are treated with equal importance to any other task I might have.

I have borrowed the following quote from Christe and So what? Now what?, as I feel it says it all about how I feel about fitting my much loved activities into my daily life.

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” ~ Bertrand Russell

The fact, that I still manage to fit these things into my busy life is proof that they are not time wasting. Proof that they are important in my world. I also wonder if our opinion on the passive things in our lives, such as reading, changes as we age.

Some of the buzz words today are ‘productivity’ and ‘intentional’. It’s perfectly fine to be productive and intentional when there is work to be done. But please, in your busy day, do take time out, for at least one activity that you enjoy. Make it a priority.

All of the above, is not to say that I never waste time. I’m a fantastic time waster! I have been known to get side tracked often by a cute dog, cat or chicken video on YouTube. An hour can zip by in a snap! Do you think that’s wasting time? Or procrastinating? Or is it stopping to smell the roses? I think it depends if it’s being used as an avoidance tactic. Then it would be wasting time.

To me stopping to smell the roses occasionally is also important to a feeling of well-being and can decrease the feeling of overwhelm, that can occur in our busy lives. Surely, these benefits are important to a well-rounded and happy life.

In the comments, I’d love to hear what you think about wasting time. Or perhaps, I should say, finding time in your day for whatever it is that makes you happy.

Just to add some fun and enjoyment to your day, here are some cute chickens. Hope they make you laugh!  Take a few minutes to waste time and hopefully have a laugh.