When I was preparing my college applications my senior year of high school, I prided myself on my extra-curriculars. They had given us a sheet to fill out with four areas- one for each year of high school. I made a world record for smallest handwriting in order to fit all of my groups, sports, and other involvements on the sheet. I did everything.
I played tennis and swam.
I was in every music group that existed.
I worked.
I volunteered.
I was in the Foreign Language Alliance.
I did yearbook one year.
I was the President of the Wind Ensemble.
Etc.
I was very very busy.
And I realized the other day when I was going from one activity to another, that even as an adult, I have a lot of "extra-curricular" activities. But why? Sure, most of them bring me joy more often than not, but they also leave me really tired. And while doing one activity, I have less time to do other things.
I haven't been out to take photographs in months.
I've only gotten 10 pages into the book I got a week ago.
British Vogue is staring at me every time I go home.
I did laundry two weeks ago and still haven't hung up my clothes.
My poor Netflix DVDs take at least a week to get to.
Etc.
But you know what? I'd rather be busy than boring. Some days all I want to do is sit there and watch TV, but then I think about not playing in an orchestra or being involved with a theatre company and I realize I would really miss them. I guess it's all about give and take. Participating in "life" and all that jazz. To be an interesting person requires activity. I must be very interesting;)
XO,
SVR
+Title from Green Day
3 comments:
True, it's better to be busy than boring. But you can be far from boring while still scaling back some of your activities. I've struggled with the same thing for YEARS, which you know if you've been reading my blog. Can I recommend that you drop everything and read The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz, immediately? Sometimes life, real life -- like your photography and reading and just gazing out the window -- can be lost in the obligations of shuttling from activity to activity.
Tess- The beauty of working in a bookstore is that I have already checked the book out based on your recommendation! YAY!
Also, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said "shuttling from activity to activity" because I realized that's the area that is most frustrating. Not to use it as a cop out, but the traffic around here almost ruins things. I can't get an early start on the day because I will get in traffic and when going from one thing to another, it takes soooo long! I can't wait to not live in NOVA:)
I've always loved being busy and juggling multiple things. Don't get me wrong, I love being at home and chilling, but even there I'm usually working on projects.
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