The semester is in full swing and, with the natural growth of the spiral of activities gradually taking over our lives, it’s easy to forget to take time away from our scheduled lives. Frequently our unscheduled time is eclipsed by all the compacted hours of places to go, things to do, and people to see.
It’s been said that we can only schedule about 80 percent of our time because it’s in the unscheduled time that Life happens. To be honest, sometimes I hate it when Life happens and mucks up the plans I�ve tweaked into perfection.
By Karissa Kilgore,
Senior Staff Writer
The semester is in full swing and, with the natural growth of the spiral of activities gradually taking over our lives, it’s easy to forget to take time away from our scheduled lives. Frequently our unscheduled time is eclipsed by all the compacted hours of places to go, things to do, and people to see.
It’s been said that we can only schedule about 80 percent of our time because it’s in the unscheduled time that Life happens. To be honest, sometimes I hate it when Life happens and mucks up the plans I�ve tweaked into perfection.
Sure, the Life that happens has potential to bring great opportunity and other wonderful things into my already full life … but couldn’tit just wait till I have a break at 2:30?
I suppose patience and flexibility are the prescriptions to combat this anxiety of Life interfering with my life. But scheduling so many important aspects of life reminds me of that game Jenga with the stacked blocks – move too suddenly or too many blocks, and it’s like there wasn’ta schedule to begin with.
I�ve been pondering this for a while now: what am I missing when I schedule my life away? There has got to be some alternate reality of Life that I�m just glazing over as I measure out my life with planner pages and post-it notes (Eliot’s Prufrock can keep his coffee spoons).
I can only imagine what happens to people who don’tschedule themselves into oblivion. Similar to children who imagine what goes on after their bedtimes, I will never know until I experience this for myself.
I�ll bet that after I leave the dining hall to rush to class, that’s when the chicken Parmesan and chocolate fondue come out.
While I�m trucking through hallways to get to class or work, I�ve probably passed countless carnivals, celebrations, and give-aways without even knowing it.
I would also wager that if I slowed down a bit and took more time on my journeys that I would meet new people. Maybe instead of brusque marches to meetings I could talk brisk walks to meet friends.
As our lives grow increasingly busier, we start to cut out the things that feel less important… things that just take up time like meals, sleep, and relaxation. It’s a pity that when things pile up and it seems like too much, we give in and let the work lambaste the fun. Work conquerors both fun and ourselves.
Sometimes it’s nice to not have every hour planned out for every day.
I wish I didn’thave to dissect my life sometimes. Perhaps �precision planning� should only apply to engineers.
It�d be nice if I could find that happy medium between �busy as a bee� and �bump on a log.� If anyone finds it, send me a memo so we can schedule a time to meet there.
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