I've been going through a period in my life lately where I feel my time is not my own. Between things I have been doing for my family, work, and a handful of other things, my personal projects have fallen to the wayside. If you have been reading my posts this week, you might have seen me talk about my garage shelves. That was actually a pretty big deal for me, because I have been trying to get those done for a couple months now, I just haven't had the time.
It's hard, because I can't really be mad, it's just unfortunate that things have played out the way they have. For example, I mentioned I have been spending a lot of time taking care of family stuff. While it isn't the first thing I want to do with my time, I know that my time with them is fleeting, and one day I will wish I could be their first call when they need something done.
It's sometimes hard to reconcile that with the desire to spend my time doing what I want to do. Does that make me selfish? Perhaps. I think more than anything it just makes me human.
On the flip side, spending time with family means that I get to see the little turkey in the photo above a bit more. I've spent two out of the last four weekends with my great niece and it has been absolutely magical. She busts me up and she is finally starting to get to that age where she is a bit more "fun" if you know what I mean. Just look, nobody told her to crawl into the end table, she just did it on her own!
Yesterday I wrote the post about golfing with my inlaws. While it wasn't my first choice of things to do on my Friday off, it was still a great time, and I am glad that I was able to spend it with them. On the 4th of July we had another get together and I spent a good deal of time talking to my wife's cousins about all manner of topics including AI, stocks, tech in general, and travel. Just a few of the things that if you know me, you know i really love. Okay, maybe not the AI thing, but it ties to tech, so I do have an adjacent fondness for it.
I'm actually shocked I was able to carry as much conversation as I did. I guess it helps when your niece makes Jello shots....
I even learned a new (to me) drinking game called "Ride the Bus". Feel free to Google it if you want more information. Or, I can do it for you here.
Finally, after a long weekend of lots of human interaction, I spent the day on Sunday working with my friend on the disc golf course he is trying to get set up at one of the local universities. Then I came home and grilled off this wonderful boneless pork chop for dinner. It came out so juicy and tender. I feel like the photos don't really do it justice.
It even came out with a slightly pink juicy center that you see above. My wife prefers hers a little more done, but she at the outside edges and I took care of the middle. In fact, these pork chops are so big, just a single one was enough for both of us to have dinner on Sunday night, and I took the rest in a salad for my lunch on Monday.
Believe it or not, all the photos from above were taken in a single weekend, and it's just crazy to me to think about how quickly time actually goes. It's scary to be honest. Like I said, I've been struggling lately to separate my desire for my time to be my own versus appreciating the time I have with those around me while we are all still here.
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Time can go rushing by and it's nice when you get some 'me time'. When it comes to relatives I consider myself lucky that I get on with mine. We've not got any little kids around now, but maybe I'll be a grandparent some day. I'm not going to push my kids for that as they have plenty going on.
I can relate this. Sometimes it gets hard manage a balance between the family time, work and personal responsibilities . I think you made a good decision spending time with your loved ones 😻.
Great
family time
Whenever I saw someone talking about time, or I think about it, I got reminded about a sentence my teacher said once... "Time is an irreplaceable resource." To be honest, I forgot the context when he said that, but I understood the message behind it... You can reverse some actions, re-do things in a different way, but you can't reverse the time... The moment that passed is gone...
Having children and elderly parents are things that will take a lot of "our" time... But, as you said, when children grow up, or our parents aren't around anymore, we will want to have some time with them... We will wish that we had more time for them... It's strange, weird, and probably selfish to think about "our time" in those situations, but everyone needs it... Humans are social beings, but we do need our "solo time" sometimes...
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There's nothing wrong with helping family & friends, but I certainly would not call you "selfish" for wanting a little [much needed] time to yourself sometimes! You seem to be balancing things rather well! Kudos! ✌️
I am in the same boat as you, between work, parents and children it is hard to find time for personal projects or even time to enjoy things we already have...
Maybe you will get used to spending more time with family and "enjoy" it one day, we are after all social creatures. And you can always go back to your me time when you want, and balance the two worlds at your own pace
You're not selfish. We all need our me time and I feel the same, when I spend most of the days with others and I am left with no time for myself. Not to mention when you have things to do. But then again, these times mean memories as well and there comes a time when all you'll be left with is these memories. I think you need to find a balance and you'll be fine.