Time is fleeting

So much to do, so little time. Here's what I have to fit in to a normal day:

• 0.5 hours in a morning playing with my son
• 0.5hrs getting ready for work
  
• 1.5hrs travel to and from work
• 8.0hrs hours work (inc lunch)
• 0.5hrs cooking
• 0.5hrs eating dinner
• 0.5hrs housework (as if I do that)

... which adds up to 12 hours. With 8 hours sleep (which I don't get), I should have a whole 4 hours lying about waiting for my own personal use. Yet I never seem to have time for anything.

I suppose another hour or two goes to glorious family time, if I get home early enough. Or maybe I have to shop for basics on the way home. And I probably spend 2 hours lying down watching a DVD (we have no broadcast TV, just DVDs) or playing a stupid computer game, or once in a blue moon reading a book. With the odd gap I have then filled my day I suppose. And my week. And my year. And my life.

All the other things get crammed into weekends - maybe some odd jobs, hell, even a little leisure. But really I should be doing something else, something that isn't paid work, that isn't resting to recover from paid work, something positive, creative, satisfying. Maybe it's why people do sports - it's shown to relieve stress and ease depression, and I know from when I used to have a gym membership that exercise makes you feel good. But I'm not the type; the sporty people I met when I was younger have put me off being sporty - this was in England, where sport is a punishment. Hopefully being Australian will provide a different attitude for my son.

So I want to do something more creative with my spare time, so that my son does. I don't want him seeing a worker bee who buzzes out in a morning only to flop down exhausted when he returns. Work is not life, at least my office work isn't. I need to demonstrate that you must find time to pursue other interests. All I remember of my parents was 1) gardening (boring) and 2) a weekend sailing hobby which obliterated all other spare time. It was too monochrome.

So I will change myself for my son's sake. I will fit in some more exercise so he stays active. I will make use of an hour here and there for something that brings soulful rewards.

He's such a positive influence on me.