Time Wasted pet peeve post 2

So the question is then, why does it bother me when other people waste my time?  I mean, I waste my time very effectively.  Therein lies part of the problem.  Sometimes, I have done such a thorough job of wasting my own time that when someone else wastes my time, I have no patience left for it.  I have so many things left undone weighing on me that I can't spare a moment for someone else's waste or use.

Try to think of an example.  I pay bills on Wednesday.  I procrastinated and now it's Friday and I haven't paid the bills.  My husband wants me to sit and watch a movie with the family.  I don't want to spare the time because I already wasted that time on Wednesday.  This is a fairly benign example.  I would sit and watch the movie with the family and then scoot in to pay bills for five minutes before heading to bed.

A more malignant example.  I did not manage my time well this week.  I haven't written the Bible Study for Wed. night youth group.  It's Monday.  I am planning on writing it while my homeschooled kids are doing work they can do on their own.  Except, I stayed up late watching TV last night so I woke up late.  Since I woke up late, the kids got up late.  Now it's 11am and we are just starting school when I get an urgent phone call from my elderly mother asking me to come take a look at my sick father.  I do, but grudgingly.  Because I don't have the time.  Because I wasted it already.  I should have written my Bible Study yesterday.  I should have gone to sleep at a reasonable time.  I should have been up at 8 and had school started at 9 and be done the core subjects already.  But I'm not, so my attitude is bad and I resent the use of my time to run and see to my father.  But it's not his fault.  I wasted my time, not him.  Not my mother.  Thankfully, my parents don't depend on me alone and my sister was more engaged when she went to check on them after work.  My dad went to the doctor and got preventative antibiotics, because he had pneumonia that sent him to the hospital a year ago, and he is fine. 

So the point is, I need to really think about who it is that has wasted my time.  If it's me?  Then I have no right to complain and I need to be better at managing my time.  I realize that life happens and things don't always go according to plan.  But, if I am "coaching my team" well then those off games won't ruin my whole season.  Thanks to my husband's friend, Don, for the metaphor.