Unplugged

I read a quote the other day on someone's blog. I love quotes. It never ceases to amaze me how some people can whittle down an essential truth into so few words. Anyway, this quote was by Annie Dillard. She's a Pulitzer prize winning author. The quote was "Because how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." Seems like a no-brainer, eh? But it really struck a chord with me for some reason. The phrase "your life" refers to something in the distant future. Doesn't it? As in, "What are you going to do with your life?" As if it's an entirely different entity, apart from yourself and what you do every day. But according to Annie Dillard, my life is happening right now. It's not something to plan out or shape into, it's already here.

So after reading this quote I decided to wean myself from the Internet. No, I'm not unplugging my computer and moving to Walden Pond. I love the Internet, oh yes I do. But I'm on it ALL THE TIME. I use it for work all day and then I come home at night and waste a ridiculous amount of time just messing around. Let's check the celebrity gossip on People.com. Let's catch up on world events over on the Huffington Post. Any rats for adoption on craigslist? Why don't I kill 30 minutes looking at baby blanket patterns on Ravelry. Rinse and repeat. And of course the entire time I've got instant messenger open and I'm chat chat chatting.

Is this how I want to remember my life? As having spent it jumping between web pages? Ugh. No. I want to spend my life reading good books. Watching interesting movies. Tickling rat tummies. Knitting for charity. Especially knitting for charity. Because a well used mouse pad certainly isn't much of a legacy.