Saturday, June 12, 2010

Down Time




Recently I became victim to a minor finger injury. Nothing debilitating, but with the potential to become so. So, after an attempt to just 'climb through it' yielded only elevated discomfort, it is time to take a break to let it really heal. Being forced to take the time off climbing has provoked some interesting thoughts.

We all have something that we tend to invest the majority of our waking hours in. Be it a passion, job, or unescapable commitment, the time it consumes is not really thought about until it has to be spent somewhere else: Normally due to obligation. Days that had once been occupied by said activity, become entirely open to countless options that we had never considered. Often the first days go to waste because of the lack of the established order we all depend on. It is so easy to adopt a routine, following it for years on end, that the first indications of change are not often welcome. We get comfortable with knowing what we are going to do day to day and the chance to plan something different is rarely relished. We should in fact be constantly on the look out for these opportunities to bring us some variety. We can get so caught up in a single aspect of our lives that we close ourselves off to any possibility of new experiences.

It is important to take advantage of this down time. We will always get better, find another job, or discover a new pursuit that will found a new routine, once again leaving few precious moments for anything else.