Epiphany

I've had a bit of a life-changing experience this week. I'm not going to go into detail about what it is, but I'm going to use it as a kick up the backside to try and change my lifestyle. And the first thing I'm going to change is the amount of time I'm spending on the internet. I'm treating my internet usage like an addiction, and I'm going to treat that addiction by hoing cold turkey. I have cancelled my internet account at home, and am going to be blogging from work (outside of office hours, of course) from now on. I'll probably be writing entries at home and then posting them from work, or from a friend's PC. So you may not see as many entries from me in the future, and I may not be reading and commenting on other people's blogs as much as I have been.

I have realised that I am spending far too much time on the internet, and far too much time staring at a computer screen. I stare at a screen all day at work, and then I've been coming home in the evenings and staring at another screen, often until the early hours of the morning. Enough is enough. I'm going to try and turn my life around, get out and about, develop some sort of social life, so that when I do make a post, I'll have something to talk about!

I still have internet access at work, and I use it as part of my work, but it should remain basically a work tool. My social life has suffered a lot over the last few years, because I have felt that I don't earn enough money to be able to pay the bills and live a life at the same time. That's no way to live, I'm merely existing and not getting anywhere or doing anything. Stuff the bank balance, I'd rather be a little bit in debt and happier as a person than debt free and miserable.

I've made various posts in the past about how I should be turning my life around, I keep saying I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that, and in the end I don't end up doing any of it because I spend all my time in front of the damn computer. Enough is enough. The money I save on internet access can go towards a social life! There was a time when I didn't have a computer at home, there was a time when I didn't have internet access, so what did I do back then to fill my time? That's right, I had friends and did things with them.

I spend an inordinate amount of time in chat rooms, because I enjoy the level of social interaction it gave me. But it's not proper social interaction. It's kind of like eating microwave food instead of hunting, killing and cooking a rabbit. I'm sure you'd enjoy the taste of that rabbit a lot more when you know it's real, rather than some pre-processed artificial rubbish. Chatting with people online is no substitute for talking to someone face to face, just like microwave food is no substitute for the real thing. So to avoid filling my life with artificial microwave food and just pretending it's the real thing, I'm going to throw away the microwave oven and buy myself a hunting knife.

Bye bye internet, hello social life.