My cable/phone/internet were all out for four days last week thanks to the storm. I was lucky in that I had power, so I can’t complain too much (though I did insist that Comcast give me a credit for the outage).
One thing I discovered was just how much I rely on those services, especially the internet.
I am an information junkie. I love to know what’s going on in the world. I love being able to check in on my friends. I love when I read something random and decide I want to know more so I can just do a web search. I love information.
So this was something I definitely missed while my internet was out. I had my smart phone and I had WTOP (the local news radio station) on most of the day (while at home, anyway) so I wasn’t totally removed from the world, but it certainly felt like it at times.
The other thing I discovered? Just how much time I spend on these things. Over the weekend, I felt like I had so much free time. I cleaned the house. I went to the movies. I went for a run. I went for a bike ride. I read two books. It was amazing how much I felt like I could get done. Of course, there were things I wasn’t getting done like laundry (we were on water restrictions) and bill paying (I do this online) and budget updating, but I certainly felt productive.
Of course, one of my favorite weekend activities is to go on a long training run and then come home, shower, and veg on the couch for a few hours, catching up on tv on the DVR. It’s really the only time that I just let my brain shutdown, and it’s a good rest for my mind and my body. And I don’t know that that’s something I should give up (though it really only should happen after a long run, not just because I’m lazy). But I do think I need to reduce the amount of time I spend online, or at least try to schedule out my weekend time a bit better.
I have already found that by not turning on the computer in the morning and just checking the weather on my phone that I can get to work 15-20 minutes early with no trouble. I had no idea I was losing that much time every day.
I think the lesson is to just be mindful of where my time is going. There’s nothing wrong with going online and reading news for an hour, I just need to be aware that I’m doing it. And maybe I should try to get other things done first, then turn on the computer. It’s a time suck for sure!
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