Living Off-Line

I have really been working on my off-line life lately.  Over the past 10 years or so, I've spent way too much time online.  I've developed some really great online friendships but I think there must be a balance and I wasn't finding that balance.  I hate to admit it but when I get sucked into the screen, I'm ignoring my family.  This isn't something I want for myself or for them.  So, I decided that along with the other minimalist things I'm working towards that I also needed to work on getting that balance between off-line and online.

On Saturday, Oct 23, I decided that I was going cold-turkey for the day.  I stayed off of the computer the entire day.  It was tough!  Thank goodness I had some books that needed to be read and finished up for two book discussion groups, so that helped me focus on keeping my mind occupied so that I didn't completely lose it and give in.  Since then, I have been limiting my computer time to, at most, 1 hour a day.  I have so much wrapped up into my online life that some things have had to be put on hold.  I'm only making an exception this evening so that I can blog here.

I'm seriously considering giving up my pet project, Free K-12 Education.  If I don't give it up, it will definitely stay as a hobby.  I'm just not willing to spend so much time on it anymore.  I thought I wanted to build it into something that could pay me back for the effort, but I'm not so sure anymore.  I have so many other wonderful things that I want to do and I just don't see how I can balance that plus pursue all of these other things.

I really think that a quote I posted on my mini blog last week changed something in me.  It flipped a switch.  I had an enlightening.  Here it is, in case you don't regularly read my mini blog...

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” - Mahatma Gandhi

I have so much living to do.  I have so much learning to do.  I am no longer willing to settle for so much of my time being sucked into the black hole of so many of my former online activities.  I can't get that time back.  I have to decide what's really important in life and focus my time and energies there.