Friday, February 26, 2010

Having The Time

I'll not dance around it; the recession has hit the gardening industry pretty hard. Our lobbyists are hard at work in Washington, but tulip bulbs and the promise of home-grown carrots don't grease the legislative skids as much as they used to. Consequently, I have discovered the recession paradox. Clients cut back on my hours because their gardens are deemed capricious things in the light of national and global financial angst, thus I have more time on my hands. Wonderful, this time can be used to pursue my own long-denied capriciousness... but wait! Without a steady paycheck, I can no longer afford such pursuits. With a job I haven't the time and without a job I haven't the means.
I like to think of this as one of life's practical jokes.
But rather than get hung up on it, it's arguably more productive to come up with alternatives to expensive hobbies and at least consider doing those instead. Here are some terrific, inexpensive uses of time that I have considered:

*Read more
*Keep in touch with friends and family
*Volunteer for charity
*Get organized
*Learn Spanish

And here are some that I have actually done:

*Catch up on all the TV shows I've missed since getting rid of TV by watching them online but still feel smug about not having TV
*Drink more coffee
*Get cluttered
*Play Facebook Scrabble until I cannot discern Scrabble from reality
*Look at things on my walls
*Walk into the living room and back again
*Wish I hadn't drunk so much coffee

So you see, the recession paradox only applies if your dreams are unlocked by money. You too can consider doing something worthwhile, inspiring, and free... right after your turn in Scrabble.

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