Making time

I often feel that I wish I had more time for things I enjoy, and not just work, chores etc. It feels like I never have enough time. However, when I really examine what I do with my spare time, a great deal of it is wasted. I have a bit of an internet addiction, but its never for anything exciting. I work mainly all day on a computer, then I get home and often spend half the evening on the internet, looking at Facebook, ebay and a chat forum I am part of. Its such a waste of time and I end up feeling guilty, but it has become an addiction, it is an easy way to fill up my hours and fill up my brain. But it is like fast food..... easy, instantly gratifying, but ultimately bad for you and fills you with bad stuff.

So, I am going to tackle this head on and do something I have been meaning to do for a while...... I am going to have a media fast.

THE RULES

For one week, starting from Monday 26th January....

1. I will not use the internet or the computer AT ALL when I return from work. (necessity means I HAVE to use a computer at work, but this period of my day does not count, only my spare time.)
2. I will not watch television of any kind, including DVD's.
3. I will make sure my mobile phone is on silent in the evening, and I will check it only once. (this will not prove hard, I am not really a mobile phone kind of girl, and I tend to do this anyway)
4. I will not read any magazines or newspapers.
5. I will visit the library at least once.
6. Books are allowed
7. Music is allowed
8. Talking on the telephone (not mobile though!) is allowed, as long as I am calling up old friends for a chat.

There will be one small concession to this which I will own up to, I will be checking my eBay account on Tuesday as I have a load of sales coming to an end! I did consider not starting the media fast until the week after because of this, but I feel if I don't do it while I am thinking about it, I will lose momentum again. (and it will be a nice surprise to see how much things sell for, rather than my usual thing of checking it half a dozen times every day!)

I am hoping to do this more often, maybe having one week a month with no media, or one night a week. We will see how it goes. I am already thinking about what I am going to do, and I am going to start with doing some of the creativity exercises from this book by Keri Smith. I love this book and always read it when I feel the need to be inspried. It has loads of creative exercises which I would love to do but then tell myself I have no time for. So next week, I will be making time.

Randomly, I also like the idea of setting up our small tent in the lounge and camping out in it one evening.

Wish me luck with all of this! Even more randomly, I am off to make an origami crane before I go to bed. Always wanted to learn how to do this, but never found the time.......