Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

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The world has changed so much over the last few years- With the advent of free texting and unlimited data, there are so many time vampires it’s not even funny.

6:00 a.m.: Get up early to get a jump on the day
6:01 a.m.: Open laptop and wait for it to boot
6:03 a.m.: Check Facebook on phone
6:15 a.m.: After catching up with whatever happened in Guam, Australia, and Japan while I was sleeping, look at the BBC and Guardian for real news
6:40 a.m.: The real news has now sent me down a rabbit hole to fake news
6:50 a.m.: Get disgusted with fake news, look for something inspiring to read to get my brain back on track
7:00 a.m.: Crap- kids are awake. Why did I get up early again?

Evenings often go the same way, but I end up reading about Corvairs, Supreme Court justices of the Civil Rights and Roe v. Wade era, or the evolution of railroads from the Civil War through 1963 (outdated books predicting a future that didn’t happen fascinate me). See also, a grade school primer found in our basement from the 1930s talking about King Cotton, the mighty steel production of Pittsburgh, and the amazing properties of asbestos.

We have most of the knowledge since ancient times at our fingertips on our smart phones. Is this a good thing? Why am I reading about Bob Saget instead of using the precious time I have to do something, anything, with my family? Sure, learning about the Glomar Explorer or the history of Cow Tails candy probably adds something to my life, but all these things are just distractions, distractions, distractions! …Takes break to do a crossword puzzle with kids.

The bottom line is this. We’re only on this mortal coil for a short time. We may live longer than our awesome, cigarette smoking grandparents did, but is our life necessarily better? How much time do we piss away staring at a little screen? How many beautiful things do we miss every day because we’re caught up in the endless churn that comes with constant connectivity between our clients, bosses, and an endless, petty news cycle? How much less time would we be at work if we just put down the phone, turned off the email, and (oh my God) just… worked?

Time to stop talking about what we want to do and simply do it. Phones down, eyes up, choose life.

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