I don’t have time.

I don’t have time. I am too busy. What do we; or what should we, do with all of our time?

I have been noticing lately how we as people in general use the excuse of I don’t have time to do that or I am to busy to do that…..what’s up with that? This has probably been happening since the fall of man but for some reason I have been noticing it lately and it has begun to irritate me. Not that it matters what I think or anything, it just appears to be another one of my “pet peeves”.

Some of the things I hear frequently are

I don’t have time to clean my house
I don’t have time to exercise.
I don’t have time to go to the movies, shopping, dinner
I don’t have time to read a book
I don’t have time to do the laundry
I don’t have time to go to church
I don’t have time to volunteer

The list can go on and on of what I have heard people say they don’t have enough time to do. It seems to me that the response has become a common excuse not to do something just because we just don’t want to and then feel like we have to have an excuse so we automatically say “I don’t have time”. It’s the same as if someone asks us “How are you today” and we habitually respond with an “I’m fine.” Our world could be crumbling but we just say “I’m fine.” I try not to ask that question of someone unless I do indeed have the time to listen to them in case they want and/or need to talk about their life as it stands at that point. Oh wait a minute. I need to get back on topic here.

We all have the same amount of time in a day. So the response of “I don’t have time” is really not a reason at all. Why can’t we call an apple an apple? I would love for someone to give of these responses instead.

I am a slob and I don’t like to clean, so I don’t.
Or
I would rather pay someone to clean my house.

I am lazy and haven’t been able to get my butt up off of the couch.
Or
I need to exercise? Really?

I would rather do other things than sit in a movie, go shopping or go out to dinner
I prefer to watch movies after they come out on DVD.
Those activities are not in my budget.

I do not enjoy reading.
I find it difficult to read and would rather watch a movie.

I don’t enjoy shopping.
I am not a shopper. I go in to a store with a list and come out after I found what I need.

I really don’t like doing the laundry so I let it pile up until I have nothing left to wear.

I am uncomfortable going to church.
I don’t feel the need to go to church.
I had a bad experience at church, so I don’t go anymore.

I just don’t volunteer.
It’s not how I want to spend my free time.
It has never dawned on me that I should volunteer.

So why don’t we really tell people what we think and feel? One of the reason’s I have experienced is that I really don’t think the person I am talking to care anything about what I have to say. This is another reason I like to give off the wall answers sometimes. It makes people blink and look at you like they just heard a foreign language. They don’t know how to respond when they hear an unexpected comment. I think this may be why some people think I am a bit odd at times. I also just hate conforming all the time.

It would be nice if we all just stopped long enough and took some time to really listen to each other. Unconditional acceptance is a cool concept isn’t it? Completely unreachable; but it's still a cool concept.

We all have the same amount of time available to us each day and we have all the time in the world to devote to things that are important to us. So saying, “I don’t have time.” is really just a way of saying that something is not a high priority in your life. So, why not call it like it is Instead of saying,”I don’t have time.” Just say “That is not a priority for me at this time.” Or even a simple “I don’t want to.”

I am done. Thanks for your time. :-)