The Runaway

Posted:
October 12, 2009
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5

The Runaway

balanceYou can tell that I’m my father’s son because I’m planning to be spontaneous.

I’ve said it over and over again, but I really do need to find some balance in my life.  The problem is that I never do anything about it.

Sure, I’ve had some temporary solutions.  I had a streak there where I went to the gym consistently for a few months. I was feeling great, but I let it slip.  I’ve been consistent with the blogging thing for a few months, then I let that slip.  I am consistent with my religious commitments both personal and public, but I eventually let them slip, only to pick them up again a little while later. The same goes with my eating habits, my social life and so many other facets of my daily happenings.  Sometimes I feel like my life is like unto shoveling the sidewalk during a snow storm. Every time I clear a path, I turn around to find more stuff left in my wake that I need to take care of.

Therefore, I’m planning to be spontaneous.

How, you might ask, am I going to be spontaneous and find a lasting balance in my life? I’m going to run away and become a nomad!

I can hear you now. “Oh Bags,” you’re saying. “Running away from your troubles doesn’t solve anything.”

And to you I say, “You’re right!”

But you know what? I’m not running away from my troubles. I think it’s high time I run away from my distractions.

When I look back on my life next year, 5 years from now, or even 50 years from now, I don’t want my only memories to be of constant web surfing. Don’t get me wrong… I love the internets, but I feel like Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Gmail and so many other empty web obsessions have overtaken the primo spots on my priority list.

You guys, I’ve forgotten to live! I feel like a time of rediscovery is close at hand. And whether it starts over the next week or so, or upon my graduation, I know not.

What I do know is that if I don’t weed out the time suckers now, I’m going to be stuck for life. And I’ll tell you this right now: I’d much rather be a stress-free, relaxed, unshaven, hobo-looking happy man than an over-stressed, over-worked, staring-at-a-computer-screen, successful-in-the-world’s-eyes man.

Watch out analog world. Here I come.

  • McKay

    Wow! Spot on. I felt like I was reading from my journal. No really, best of luck with that.

  • http://Karratti.com Karratti

    The problem, though, is that these things, or at least parts of them, have become so integral to my professional life that I can’t just simply walk away from them. Twitter, maybe I could live without, but email? I get jobs and contacts from Facebook – Yet I ignore the little clubs and apps that get tossed about every day.

    While I would love to track down and destroy all the “time-wasters” that seem to plague my life, I find that they don’t always have a label, and instead of creating necessary productive time, I’m simply creating a vacuum that I’ll have to find some other way to make up for.

    Good luck with you task, buddy, but I’m not sure I can follow suit.

  • Josh

    Bravo! As successful as you’ve been with your marketing endeavors of late, it’s all for naught if you’re unhappy. I’m impressed–many people who are achieving the early success you are would have a hard time changing directions to any degree.

  • http://ryanmartinsen.com/blog/ Ryan

    As much as I love my social network, the happiest months of my life this year have been those when I was the most disconnected. Good luck and keep us posted.

  • http://www.newspapergrl.com Janet Thaeler

    Nate,
    I think it’s called ADHD. Medication can help (it helped me but I can’t commit to taking it!!). We tend to be incredibly creative but have a tough time focusing on things. That’s why the Internet has so much allure and draw. Never boring. Always a distraction.

    I like people with ADHD because I can relate best to them (like you!). I think it runs in my mom’s family. I found myself missing meetings no matter how hard I worked to remember them. Always late. Impulsive (I changed jobs every year or so). I had to find systems.

    Good news is that as I get older I’ve improved. I’ve also gotten better at catching social cues. I still wonder if I should be on Ritalin sometimes. Sad but true: I think it would’ve helped my first marriage had I done that.

    This is sounding a bit too confessional so I’ll stop. But I relate.

    Blog on,
    Janet

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