The Lost Art of Wasting Time

I’m late!  I’m late, for a very important date!
No time to say  hello goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!
--The White Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland

Or, if you prefer, we can go with a more contemporary version:

I’m in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why
--Alabama (I’m in a Hurry)

Perhaps the raw speed of modern life is our best excuse, but it seems that we’ve lost the sense of how to truly waste time.  As I write this, I can almost hear some of you shrieking:  “What?  There is no time to waste!  Have you seen my schedule?  Are you nuts?”

It may be just because of our overloaded schedules that we need, more than ever, to waste some time.  Life was not meant to be a goal-driven, overachieving, race to the finish.  Take the word “journey.”  Webster defines it as:

1.  an act or instance of traveling from one place to another : trip

2.   chiefly dialect : a day's travel

   3.   something suggesting travel or passage from one place to another <the journey from youth to maturity> <a journey through time>

 

Part of “passage” means taking your time (and not time taking you).  If we never stop to waste time, to just BE, how can we possibly think that we are enjoying the journey of a life well- lived?

As one who is guilty of making “to-do” lists while at the beach on vacation, I have definitely NOT mastered this skill.  But I am finally learning how to waste time, and it is changing my life for the better.  I’m not talking about designated meditation time or even my nightly porch-stitting, but truly aimless don’t–know-what-I’m-going-to-do-next wandering (or sitting for that matter, if you’re not the wandering type).

You don’t set out to waste time.  You merely quit worrying about what is next for a few minutes, and you quit DOING.  Give it a try; I think you will be very surprised by the results.  And the space you create may actually contribute to your goal-driven tasks in an unexpected way.  If you still feel bad about wasted time, consider what Bertrand Russell said:  “The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”

Do you have favorite ways to waste time that you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear them.  Please feel free to leave a comment.  Meanwhile, I have some time to kill.

Marianne Smith

Writer At The Ranch

Making You Look Brilliant One Word At A Time

http://writerattheranch.com

wordsmith@writerattheranch.com