Too Much Time On My Hands

Why is it that when you have loads of supposedly spare time, you get nothing done? As a full time dad, with both boys at school, there should be about five hours a day for me to get things done. It doesn't quite work like that! The day to day crappy jobs like the housework bore me to tears, and I really have to force myself to do any of it. I do conservation work in the Cotswold once a fortnight, and try to go for a country walk fortnightly as well. The rest of the time, I check the vital sites on the computer, read the paper, and wonder where the time has gone.

I think that sitting around with too much time on your hands, does tick away at your sanity. It allows time for things that have gone wrong to fester in your head. It allows negative thoughts to multiply and become major issues, instead of minor irritants. It gives time for wrong patterns of lifestyle, such as over eating or lack of exercise, to develop. All these, and more, can seriously damage our health if we let it.

It is much harder, but much more beneficial, to be proactive in time management, for want of a better word. Factor in time to do some of the crappy jobs every other day say, then they will not all gang up on you at once. Reward yourself occasionally for getting these jobs done. Exercise, even when you do not feel like it, as this does help to improve both your health and state of mind. I find all of this hard to do, but I must try harder as my head hurts otherwise.

It is also vital to allow time to listen to God in all of this. He wants us to use our time wisely, and not to fritter it away. Taking time to study God's word, or read an inspiring book, is not a waste of time, but a vital mental exercise. God alone knows how much time each of us has, it is up too us to be good stewards of it.

The song is taken from the Paradise Theatre album.


Too Much Time On My Hands

Sitting on this bar stool talking like a damn fool
Got the twelve o'clock news blues
And I've given up hope on the afternoon soaps
And a bottle of cold brew
Is it any wonder I'm not crazy? Is it any wonder I'm sane at all
Well I'm so tired of losing- I got nothing to do and all day to do it
I go out cruising but I've no place to go and all night to get there
Is it any wonder I'm not a criminal
Is it any wonder I'm not in jail
Is it any wonder I've got

Too much time on my hands, it's ticking away with my sanity
I've got too much time on my hands, it's hard to believe such a calamity
I've got too much time on my hands and it's ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands, too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands

Well, I'm a jet fuel genius - I solve all the world's problems
Without even trying
I have dozens of friends and the fun never ends
That is, as long as I'm buying
Is it any wonder I'm not the president
(He's not the president)
Is it any wonder I'm null and void Is it any wonder I've got

Too much time on my hands, it's ticking away at my sanity
I've got too much time on my hands, it's hard to believe such a calamity
I've got too much time on my hands and it's ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands, too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands

This recording is taken from the Return to Paradise tour in 1996, and has Dennis de Young on keyboards.