My wife asked me when was the last time I had done nothing. I couldn’t remember. And as I thought about it more, I realized how complicated my adult life has become.With my wife out of town on a recent weekend, a friend of mine drove from Atlanta to Savannah to hang out. We hit a couple of bars, ate some good food, and then on Sunday we did nothing. And it was glorious.
When she returned Sunday night, my wife asked what we had done that day. “Nothing,” I told her. “Absolutely nothing.” In truth, we watched the NBA playoffs and we watched some golf. I couldn’t tell you who played, and I couldn’t tell you which tournament it was. These just served as background noise and a target at which to stare for a day’s entirety.
My wife asked me when was the last time I had done nothing. I couldn’t remember. And as I thought about it more, I realized how complicated my adult life has become. There’s something that I could do every minute of every day. There’s always work I could be doing, no matter how much work I put in that day or that week. There are always improvements to be made on the, the house. I should go to the gym (and work harder when I’m there). There’s always something we’re meaning to buy, people we haven’t seen in a while with whom we’re looking to catch up. Drinks, dinners, outings, parties, gatherings, picnics, barbecues. The list goes on.
Adult life has become a string of to-do lists that beget more to-do lists.
And then there’s the stuff. If you’re anything like me, you loved the subversiveness of the movie “Fight Club” when it came out in 1999, especially this line: http://img.pandawhale.com/post-55356-the-things-you-own-end-up-owni-KhgG.gif
Adding to life’s complexity is technology, specifically all of the devices we keep within arm’s reach at all times.But as much as 19-year-old Kevin wanted to believe he wouldn’t turn into that guy that Tyler Durden railed against, I have so much crap. My wife and I have a juicer that we never use that takes up about two cubic feet in a closet that we will move to our new house for no reason other than our guilt for having received it as a wedding gift outweighs our desire to part with it.
And I don’t even have that much crap when I compare my crap level to that of my wealthier, more crap-endowed friends.
Adding to life’s complexity is technology, specifically all of the devices we keep within arm’s reach at all times. Not to mention the social media sites and apps that we constantly visit with all of those devices. I’m certainly no Luddite—quite the opposite, in fact. But as much as technology is meant to make our lives easier, I can fully admit that I’m addicted to my MacBook, iPhone and smart TV. They’re appendages.
Here’s an example of how technology has become a force of evil in my life. As a University of Missouri alum, I spend a disproportionate amount time thinking about Mizzou sports. A few days ago, I thought to myself, “What is former Mizzou Tiger/Denver Nugget forward Linas Kleiza up to these days?” That’s a question that could have been satisfied with a, “Huh. Yeah, I wonder. Oh well. Who cares?” Instead, I tried to Google him. But the internet at my house was inexplicably out. The unplug-and-plug-back-in method yielded no internet. I found that this situation had created in me an inappropriate level of anxiety—not that my internet was down, but that I may not remember to Google “Linas Kleiza” next time I’m connected, and I’ll wonder what I meant to Google when the internet was down and I’ll forget because I’m getting older and I only have so much room for inanities these days. It’s exhausting. (Kleiza is playing in the Italian League these days, I now know for no reason.)
