03 May Why I Finally Took Candy Crush Off My Phone (And What Happened Next…)

We all have our vices.  And we all have our time wasters – you know, the things we do, thinking “I really shouldn’t be doing this…but…” Or, we tell ourselves that we will only do this procrastination – time – wasting activity for just 5 more minutes – and 15 minutes later, we say “ok – this is really the last 5 minutes.”  And whether it’s binge watching, crawling into the You Tube Vortex or in my case, playing level 147 for the 79th time of Candy Crush – VOWING that if I don’t win this time, I’ll stop.

Now to Candy Crush’s credit, they time you out!  But you buy or can ask friends for more lives, or, simply wait until it let’s you back in.  Whatever the scenario, I realized recently that most days I was logging in anywhere from 10 – 45 minutes a day on that game (sometimes more) and over the course of the week, that’s up to 5 +hours a week, approximately 22 hours per month and that equals 270 hours per year, or even more frightening, that’s about 11 entire days !

WHAT!?!?!?!

I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather take those 11 days and do something grand like go to Paris or a yoga retreat or lie on a beach somewhere….NOT sit there an play Candy Crush!

And that got me thinking a bit more closely about who and what I give my time to.  You see, the way I look at it, time is The. Most. Precious. Thing. We. Have.  And one can argue, it’s really all we have.  And it is so easy to fritter it away on things that don’t mean anything or really replenish us in any fruitful way or give it to people or projects that don’t really nourish us or bring us any closer to our goals and desires.

And that got me thinking about being in alignment with my desires, goals and dreams, both in my work world and my personal world.  And that got me to take a closer look at my to-do list and to make sure that I wasn’t just “busying” up but truly being effective and using this precious time resource that I have in ways that will truly serve me and my goals, dreams, etc.

And so, I deleted Candy Crush from my iPhone and iPad.  (GULP!)

But then, something kind of amazing happened. Once I got over the initial Candy Crush withdrawal symptoms, I decided to use that time differently.  After all, if I had 45 minutes to zone in the sweet magical Candy Kingdom, surely I had 45 minutes to exercise, or take the dog for an extra long walk in the park, or practice the piano a bit more, or write in my journal, read the book that has been sitting on my night table for weeks, try that new recipe that I’ve been coveting, knit that scarf that I’ve been meaning to…..do some yoga, meditate or do absolutely nothing and just rest…. you get the idea.

In short, I opened up space to do things that make me happy and more important, things that I kept saying I wish I had time to do!

I’m not saying not to give up your video games or your favorite chill out fun, but give some thought about what else you could do with that time….after all, a few minutes here and a few more minutes there……can be used to write that novel that’s been knocking around in your head……taking better care of yourself, reconnecting with your friends and family…..or…….go travel the world and take that 11 day vacation that you have been putting off!

Now, it’s your turn to tell me what you can do differently with your time if you step away from your screen and mindless activities like video games.

Until the next time!

Vivienne