Waste Not, Want Not

We may not be out of the pandemic quite yet, but many of us are carving out a “new normal” for ourselves. Because let’s face it, life is not going back to what it was a mere two years ago. This actually is a good thing, because we have the opportunity to make new decisions, new choices for how we want to live going forward.

There was an adage my mother repeated endlessly: “Waste not, want not.” Her objective was to get her children to eat everything on their plate, including the brussel sprouts. Yuck. At the time, I thought, well the dog will always eat the brussel sprouts slipped under the table so nothing wasted.

That being said, Mom had a point. Not about the brussel sprouts so much, but about life. During our necessary stay-at-home time, we spent increasing amounts of time on Netflix, Hulu, TV, and Facebook. To a certain degree, many of us got addicted to various shows and sites, which is fine, if that was indeed a considered choice. Mostly it wasn’t. We were bored, there was little we could do for entertainment, so voila. More screen time. Much of it mindless . . .

We have the opportunity now to choose differently. Actually, for many of us, to just plain choose. Is our screen time robbing us of time better spent elsewhere? With friends? Family? Learning something? Engaging in a new hobby/avocation? Improving our job situations/careers? Our finances? Our relationships?

How about robbing us of the energy we could put to more fulfilling use somewhere else? Same list: friends, family, learning, hobby/avocation, improving job/career/finances/relationships.

And how about the love, the passion, the caring we could invest in our lives, our daily do, new adventures, our nears and dears?

Now is a wonderful opportunity to choose differently, and to prioritize those choices. Not to eliminate our entertainment screen time, but to choose deliberately how much time, energy and passion we commit to it. To choose deliberately how much time, energy and passion we commit to other aspects of our lives.

“Waste not, want not” isn’t just for brussel sprouts. “Waste not, want not” is a profound statement about the human limitations of the time, energy and passion that are ours to live. Choose wisely where you spend them, so there is no waste, so that you can enjoy fully the astonishing, amazing journey that is your life.