What activities take a chunk out of your day?

Certainly, if you are employed or have children to take care of, that can eat up a number of hours each day. Mostly I’m talking about the filler stuff that can suck up huge amounts of time.

Game playing, Pinterest, reading novels, hobbies, etc. are all great, but when you fall into them and lose hours of time, they move into the problem category.

I’m a part of several Facebook groups and I love Pinterest. I have hobbies (bunnies and Zentangle) and enjoy the occasional mystery novel. I could get lost for hours and hours, but when I do my relationships suffer and the rest of my life gets a bit thin (and I get behind in my bookkeeping).

To keep my play in the safe zone (and so I have time and energy for the important things including my marriage) I’ve set up a few limits. I only head for the fun stuff after my work is done for the day. I have limits on the amount of time I spend there (I’ll play for a half-hour before dinner) or I set a limit on amount (I’ll do two Zentangle tiles and then put my art stuff away).

I am all for the self-care of doing those things that bring on the fun and give you a break (I’m even for the occasional Netflix binge), but I also know that escapism is alive and well during stressful times. Escapism doesn’t really relieve the stress and generally adds to the problems because we’re not dealing with them.

I encourage y’all to look at your time use. Make room for self-care. Cut back on the escapism. Ask for the help you need.

The problem with escaping reality and seeking to be distracted is that while I was distracted with temporary stimulation, my reality worsened. Jennifer Smith

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