Ok. What should you do? (Other than exercise, which I don’t do.)

I want to read. I want to write. I want to learn how to play the guitar and possibly the piano; figure out how to use my camera; stop slicing when I play golf. I wouldn’t mind someone showing me how I can avoid getting killed so quickly playing Fortnite. And there are many TV shows I need to binge-watch.

But I am now realizing I can’t do all of the above. It’s taken me a while to figure that out.

I have three guitars and two ukuleles. One piano. A Canon Rebel, and I cannot tell you how many lenses. A PS5 and a Nintendo Switch (the Vita doesn’t count.) Countless console games which I’ll never have time to play…. so much so that I feel like I have become a game collector rather than a player.

I have an increasing pile of books I need to find time to read… will I ever get the chance to read them all?!

I haven’t even mentioned work. I also work every day. Work can practically be a distraction.

How did life get so busy?

It’s all in my head?

I’m 50.

Time. You cannot stop time. I believe in the science of longevity (I still think I’m 42, to be honest), but there are limits.

A few years ago, I occasionally wrote for one of the local online news sites about cyber stuff (look around here.) I remember someone stopping me in the street and saying, “Hey, you haven’t written anything lately?”  I said no, I hadn’t. I was busy doing other things.

At the time, I thought: “Woah, he’s paying attention to what or when I write?”

OK, so, hey, I write. I’m doing it now.

Distractions don’t help, so I’m in the process of minimizing my iPhone to just those apps I need. Or at least to the fewest apps I need.

I’m trying to get out of the habit of checking emails or messages in the morning before my routine of jumping out of bed, drinking my coffee, getting ready, etc.

What can I do now?

OK, first. Work.

I still have to work. An annoying aside, but for now, at least, something I’ll have to live with. Darn.

I’ve figured out that I’ll never learn to play the guitar like Jack White or the piano like… anyone. (Ok, the ukulele is within my reach.)

I’ll always keep a good camera and lenses for special occasions but do I need to learn to be an expert photographer? No. (My son is learning, so he will inherit a bunch of lenses.)

Will I become a scratch golfer? No. I’ll always just plod around and play on a golf course with family and friends, losing balls, probably getting a bit drunk, and trying not to injure anyone. With the odd great shot here and there (“I am Jack Nickalus!”)

I’ll keep writing, of course — something which I enjoy doing, just slightly below listening to music.

But there is one thing I haven’t mentioned.

Do You Realize?

People. Family. Kids. Friends. Online buddies. Don’t take them for granted.

Experiences. Enjoy what you do and where you do it. Sometimes, wherever you go, or whatever you do, it may be the last time you visit, or you do it.

Work is an important part of that equation. Make sure you do enjoy where and what you are employed to do. If, when driving to work, your attitude is “OH GOD, NOT ANOTHER DAY!” then you need to re-think what you are doing.

From their album “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots,” Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips sang, “Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?”

It’s hard to accept, but true. And then, “….You realize that life goes fast. It’s hard to make the good things last….”

Time. You can always easily do anything. But you can’t do everything. So concentrate on the things you can do and which matter the most.

To you.

Now, where was that PS5 controller again?

Chris Garrod, Sept, 2022

[Updated from Sept, 2019]