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Time anxiety: is it too late?

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Re: Time anxiety: is it too late?

#61

Post by _def »

generated wrote: post #21

My issue with the pursuit of leisure activities, or the “If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves” quote, is that it doesn't leave room for ambition. If I spend my years in momentary pleasure, I fear I will regret not tackling more ambitious projects. What could I have achieved if I was willing to suffer through activities that are not solely "activities you really enjoy?"

> What could I have achieved if I was willing to suffer through activities that are not solely "activities you really enjoy?"

I feel like that's kind of the point. The answer is: you will never know. Of course it's easier said than done but I think in the long run it's much better to cherish the present instead of fearing the future. What if you suffer for years and even then the question does not disappear?

Re: Time anxiety: is it too late?

#62

Post by ericmcer »

Grzegrzolka wrote: post #18
programmerdude wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a software eng who has always had a lot of hobbies, it's almost alienating how so many people in the office are only into TV shows, super hero movies, sci fi books, video games... It's like, there's a whole world out there people!

Serious question, what other hobbies can one have?

What? He listed 4 things in addition to software. Just do anything besides those 5 activities. This is a joke?

Re: Time anxiety: is it too late?

#63

Post by asdffdsa »

Grzegrzolka wrote: post #18
programmerdude wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a software eng who has always had a lot of hobbies, it's almost alienating how so many people in the office are only into TV shows, super hero movies, sci fi books, video games... It's like, there's a whole world out there people!

Serious question, what other hobbies can one have?

Just learned how to ride a motorcycle (more or less) on my own over about a month or so.

I took a motorcycle course over one weekend. Took the license test another weekend. Bought a bike and filled out paperwork during the week (registration & insurance). Rode almost every day for the first month, practiced maneuvers (finding the friction zone, quick stopping w/o skidding) I wasn't comfortable with in a parking lot.

Now I'm comfortable riding almost everywhere. All told, it took one weekend of high effort (motorcycle class), medium effort for one week (1-2 hours daily of either: riding, reading a motorcycle riding book, filling out paperwork, researching/coordinating/buying the bike), and low effort for the rest of the month (15 - 60 minutes of riding -- FUN).

Only took a month of effort to acquire a lifelong skill

Re: Time anxiety: is it too late?

#64

Post by thtthings »

You think too highly of yourself. Why do you think whatever you create is something special. It's most likely Shit. There is freedom in knowing you are one in 7 billion. Real creation happens when you give freedom to your mind to do whatever it wants to. There is no time constraint, no feeling that i need to get this done. It's spontaneous. You are following someone else's script here. You are equating activity with accomplishment

Re: Time anxiety: is it too late?

#65

Post by x2f10 »

l_t wrote: post #54
x2f10 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not in my early thirties and time anxiety is actually growing stronger. I worry about the big three: children, career, and personal health. My idea is that with kids... my finace and I are aging. Are we going to do this or not? We have to know within the next 2ish years. With career... what career path do I want to take? I need to focus on schooling or professional certificates ASAP so I can utilize those as I ag…

This is a personal comment, but if you're like me, I bet that anxiety is not just related to time. I would be telling myself: How can I commit to a lifelong project like children? How can I decide what career path to choose, when there are so many options and I can only pick one? How can I work out, when its basically signing up to humiliate yourself? How can I take these _risks_? In my experience, anxiety pretends t…

>You want it too much, that becomes dangerous, because you're afraid of trying and failing.

Interesting perspective. I hadn't thought about this, but it rings true at first glance. Thank you for sharing.

Re: Time anxiety: is it too late?

#66

Post by Blackadderz »

thtthings wrote: post #64

You think too highly of yourself. Why do you think whatever you create is something special. It's most likely Shit. There is freedom in knowing you are one in 7 billion. Real creation happens when you give freedom to your mind to do whatever it wants to. There is no time constraint, no feeling that i need to get this done. It's spontaneous. You are following someone else's script here. You are equating activity with…

Hear, hear

Re: Time anxiety: is it too late?

#67

Post by ckosidows »

Grzegrzolka wrote: post #18
programmerdude wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a software eng who has always had a lot of hobbies, it's almost alienating how so many people in the office are only into TV shows, super hero movies, sci fi books, video games... It's like, there's a whole world out there people!

Serious question, what other hobbies can one have?

Exercising, reading, volunteering, traveling, writing, hiking/boating/skiing and other outdoor activities, photography, studying a language, playing an instrument.

Re: Time anxiety: is it too late?

#68

Post by nostromo »

thtthings wrote: post #64

You think too highly of yourself. Why do you think whatever you create is something special. It's most likely Shit. There is freedom in knowing you are one in 7 billion. Real creation happens when you give freedom to your mind to do whatever it wants to. There is no time constraint, no feeling that i need to get this done. It's spontaneous. You are following someone else's script here. You are equating activity with…

While I appreciate the stoicism, this isn't just about delusions of grandeur.

Examples:

* I'm too old to learn how to surf

* My relationship with my child is too far gone to improve

* It's pointless for me to save for retirement at my age

* The environment is fucked no matter what I do

These are all time anxiety type dilemmas that real people get hung up on that have nothing to do with impressing the world or building the next big thing.

Re: Time anxiety: is it too late?

#69

Post by meowface »

thtthings wrote: post #64

You think too highly of yourself. Why do you think whatever you create is something special. It's most likely Shit. There is freedom in knowing you are one in 7 billion. Real creation happens when you give freedom to your mind to do whatever it wants to. There is no time constraint, no feeling that i need to get this done. It's spontaneous. You are following someone else's script here. You are equating activity with…

People often find themselves entering cycles which they're not really happy about, though. They may become especially unhappy long after the fact when they reflect back on how they spent so much of their time. For example, someone may intend to work on a startup, but instead they spend a whole year basically smoking weed and watching Netflix every day, or whatever, with no startup and almost no work to show for it by year's end. They may feel quite bad and ashamed about how they spent their time during the past year.

Not to say there aren't people who do truly want to do that and find that a good use of their time (like if they work a stressful job and only want to relax and zone out during their free time). But a lot of people find themselves endlessly procrastinating or doing things which brings them very little joy and yet which they can't seem to break away from. Same goes for drug addiction, and any other addiction, really.

Re: Time anxiety: is it too late?

#70

Post by hindsightbias »

programmerdude wrote: post #15
hinkley wrote: post #3

I know there are some people disproving parts of Malcolm Gladwell's theories, but sometime in the last year or two it occurred to me that one of the consequences of the 10,000 hours theory is that you actually have time to get expert-level good at three or four things in your life even if you spent part of it 'fucking around'. I've expanded that into a philosophy about 'Software eats the world": the only way that doe…

As a software eng who has always had a lot of hobbies, it's almost alienating how so many people in the office are only into TV shows, super hero movies, sci fi books, video games... It's like, there's a whole world out there people!

> TV shows, super hero movies, sci fi books, video games

Aw, come on, one of those is not like the others.

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