"I don't have time."

Bullshit. I'm so tired of hearing this excuse from people. I used to use this excuse myself, and still do, occasionally - but I've decided "I don't have time" will be unacceptable to me from here on out.

We DO have time. We have SO MUCH TIME. Time, just like every other commodity, must be budgeted. I think about back in the old days when people had to work a farm and raise their children, and worked from dawn until well after dark just to make ends meet. And they still had time to write books and invent things and paint amazing works of art.

We spend so much of our time trying to 'recover' from normal life. We go to work 7-8 hours a day and come home and are like "Oh man I just worked 1/3 of my day, I really need to sit down and relax and recuperate from doing my job." Seriously? What's there to recover from? How many people actually have jobs that take that much out of them? And if their jobs are that inordinately stressful, perhaps they should re-think their careers and try to put it on a less destructive path. Oh wait. When that is suggested, the answer is often... you guessed it... "I don't have time."

Again, I say... BULLSHIT.

If we want to improve our lives, then we have to make time to do it. I think back to when I used to play World of Warcraft for 5-6 hours a night 3-4 nights a week, and I would actually tell myself "I don't have time for exercise/healthy diet/constructive hobbies/communicating with people." I honestly believed my own lies. I didn't have time! I had obligations to people!

The only obligations we have are the ones we take on. And we should oblige ourselves occasionally, and do something to improve our time on this planet. We should make promises to ourselves, and keep them. We should look at our oh-so-hectic schedules and see what fat we can trim and still maintain a healthy ratio of need:want.

So, the next time someone tells me "Oh Gina, I'd love to start working out regularly, but I just don't have time!" I'm going to just nod and walk away. Clearly, they don't want to have time, and thus they won't. The next time someone says "Oh Gina, I'd love to eat healthier, but cooking just takes so much time!" I'm going to say "Yup!" because arguing that cooking actually takes less time than getting in the car and going to pick up a hamburger is wasting my time. If someone tells me "Oh Gina, I wish I could learn how to paint/sew/knit/draw/sing/play an instrument/indoor rock-climb/dance, but I just don't have time!" I will say "Oh, that's too bad!" Because it is. You do have time. We all have time. Too much of it, really. If you want to waste yours, have at it. But don't tell me you don't have it.

Maybe start saying "I'd love to do X thing, but I am wasting all my time!" That's more honest, at least.

Somewhat related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo&feature=youtu.be (Totally worth 9 minutes of your time, I think! Thanks, Mike.)