Waste of time

I sit in a room I don’t want to be, listening to someone say things I am not interested in, as part of a life I am not excited for.

Of all of the things that make me feel anxious, one of the worst things is feeling like I’m wasting my time. Time is something you only have so much of, and I just hate the thought of spending it on something pointless.

“Why exactly are we doing this?” Is something I think a lot of the time. One of the worst situations is in meetings where people lather each other up with redundant comments and avenues of conversation. It applies to other things though, like watching b-grade movies, trying to be polite, or even doing things you think you want to do (but don’t really).

Part of the way that I have managed these feelings is by knowing that the attitude I bring to something will effect how much I enjoy it, and secondly that if I really think something is a waste of time then I don’t have to do it.

Sometimes obligations are annoying, because we classify them as obligations in our head and we lose any sense of joy in doing them. We don’t approach it with a positive energy and an understanding of the purpose. This makes us miserable, and makes it hard for others to not to be miserable as well. The other side of the coin is that if we are happy, we can turn even dull situations into positive experiences. I've found that anyway.

Even knowing this, there are things that are just a colossal waste of time. For these things, it is important to build up an ability to say no. I try my best to be polite, and that has dragged me into a bunch of things that I should have said no to. Building the strength to walk out when time is up. To say no to things that are not good uses of time is a really important skill. As an example, I can stop watching the b-grade movie that I'm not enjoying. Nothing’s forcing me to sit there and watch it.