waltondammerung

"Found Time" is making me lose it

I have a long commute--about an hour each way every day. Today's ride home was especially long, thanks to Six Idiots who all decided to have accidents on my route home from work. (I almost made the Seventh after I passed the last one, I'm afraid. 90 MPH on the freeway is never a good idea during rush hour.) I admit that it gets to me sometimes. I read an article recently written by a woman who has trouble with impatience. When I read her descriptions of her problems, I thought of myself, banging my hip against the Kinko's counter because I had been waiting 25 minutes to use the photo scanner and then another 10 for the one employee on duty to come take my 86 cents for the copies I made. "Oh no! I'm THAT woman," I realized. So, reading on, I discovered the idea of "found time," using times of waiting to rest your mind, think about things that interest you, daydream, read a book. "What a grand idea," thought I. "I shall try it."

It hasn't taken me long to figure out that I've actually been "finding time" all along. I listen to audio books and chat with people on the phone during my commute. I catch up on reading while I'm waiting at the orthodontist's office. But really, there are only so many things you can do during the biggest chunk of time that needs finding during my day--my commute. When your eyes and hands are busy, you're getting kind of tired of War and Peace 20 hours into it, and all of the day's podcasts are pretty boring, you're left to thinking. And, boy, do I ever think. If I had time to follow up on all of the great ideas I have in the car, well, this blog would be updated a lot more often, for starters. I also would have finished the Great American novel and the Great Russian novel, created an online database for people to rate their doctors' performance according to things that really matter, and started a revolutionary new movement in budgeting that does for personal finance what Weight Watchers does for obesity. Talk about daydreaming. My commute is long enough that it always seems to pass that critical point between, "What a great idea I just had. I can't wait to get home and do something about it," and, "Well, now that I've been sitting here this long, I might have time to think about this idea for ten more seconds after I get home, eat, chat with my husband, and check my email."

I'd like to ask the woman who wrote that article, "So I've found all kinds of time. Now what do I do with it? Can I give it to someone else?" Maybe she'd find me some trained monkeys (preferably polyglot monkeys with software-writing skills) who could do all of the stuff I think about. While I'm still riding in the car. Make it so!