SLEEP: Average 6.4 hours a night.

Just w/Friends*: Average 4.3 hours a day.

Email/Facebook**: Average 2.13 hours a day.

Transport***: Average 2 hours a day.

Lecture or Meeting: Average 1.9 hours a day.

Activist Action****: Average 1.7 hours a day.

Writing*****: Average 1.05 hours a day.

Phone/Skype: Average .6 hours a day.

Exercise******: Average .6 hours a day.

Played w/4 year olds: Average .5 hours a day

That’s all of the things that I did consistently for more than 1/2 an hour. Now for a few more stats on consumption, et cetera:

Coffee: Average 1.55 a day

Alcoholic Drinks: Average 1.2 a day.

Cigarette: Average .6 a day

Days Vegan: 5/18

Days w/out Hummus: 3/18

BACKGROUND:

Three weeks ago, I started to get a feeling in my stomach, not the sort of heartsick and/or stressed out and/or sad sort of feeling, but more like a twisting nervousness, like something was missing or I was missing something or something. Why? I wasn’t sure. What had I done recently that might have brought on such a feeling? I also wasn’t sure. I couldn’t say how I’d been spending my time. And realizing that I didn’t know what I was doing only increased the twisting: if I didn’t know what I was doing, how could I know what to do differently to get rid of the twisting feeling? Twist. Twist. Twist.

 So, I decided, then and there, with the guidance of my wise father, to try to write down everything I did in the coming three weeks (they say that three weeks is the time it takes to shift a behavior)- every place I went, every chunk of time spent on email or facebook, every meeting, everything I ate (I decided not to get into the micro-micro-details like “how many almonds I ate” or “what kind of emails I sent”).

NOTE ON THE EXPERIENCE/THE “NON-ACCURACY” OF THE STATS: 

I carried around a notebook in my pocket for three weeks, and pulled it out every ten-twenty minutes or so to catch up. And here was the amazing- if not so surprising- thing: the fact that I was making a list totally influenced the things I did. 

 For example, even though I did not know what categories I would sort in the end, I did know that I’d have to reckon for it later (ie. write it down and then reread it), so I would spend less time just browsing my inbox. And on the other hand, if my list for a day had been lacking in terms of time spent just talking to friends or family, I’d find myself making a greater effort to do so. And when my friend called asking if I wanted to wake up at 4:00 in the morning to go help him film something in the Old City, I didn’t hesitate for a second: that’ll look great in my log (to be fair, I am pretty sure I would have gone regardless, but it helped knowing that I’d get some sort of “credit”). I found myself eating less junk food, smoking cigarettes only very consciously, calling friends more often, starting to exercise again (in week three), logging off of facebook quicker. And all the while, periodically writing down my moods at various parts of each day. It was actually kind of beautiful. Maybe even really beautiful. This little thing that helped me instill more consciousness into my life, and spend more time doing things that I actually choose to do, and learn what makes me feel good and fulfilled and vice versa.

EXAMPLE DAY ANALYSIS: 

SLEEP: 4 hrs.

Email and Facebook (inc. reading articles and op eds): 15, 15, 5, 10, 15, 5, 10, 1, 10, 15. TOTAL: 1 hr 40 min.

Coffee: 1

Cigarettes: 1

ATE: Special K w/Soy Milk, Nuts, Loquat, Pretzels, Hummus, Chips, Sald, Pickles, Omelette, Cheese, Burekas, Salad, Bread, Peach, Cranberries, Raisins, Peanuts, Cholocate Wafers. (Not vegan). 

Activist Action: Al Arakib, 3 hours, 2 hours demonstration (social protest),

Transport: 15 taxi, 2.5 hrs to-from Arakib, 20 bus, 10 train, 30 bus. TOTAL: 3 hrs. 45 min.

Writing (Non-email, ie. Blog, Article, Poem, Journal): 1 hr. article,

Just Hanging w/Friend: Beruria, 1 hr. 1.5, Aba and Yoni. TOTAL: 2.5 hrs.

Walking: 15, 20, 25, 10, 60 min. TOTAL: 2 hrs. 10 min.

Chores: 30 phone fix

Meetings: 2 hr, Encounter

Phone/Skype Conversations: 15 Angie, 10 Grandmom, 35 Ima, TOTAL: 1 hr.

Read: 40 min.

EXAMPLE WEEK ANALYSIS: 

Activities

Sleep: 33.5 hours. = Average 5.6 hours a night. 

Email/Facebook: 8 hours= Average 1.3 hours a day. 

Activist Action or Tour: 9.5= Average 1.6 hours a day. 

Transport: 12 hours 50 min. Wow.= Average 2.13 hours a day. 

Just Hanging with Friends: 15 hours 20 min.= Average 2.55 hours a day. 

Writing (articles or poetry): 8 hours 25 min.= Average 1.4 hours a day. 

Lecture or Meeting: 14.5= Average 2.4 hours a day. 

Walking: 3 hours 5 min.= Average .5 hours a day. 

Exercise: 20 minutes.= Average .05 hours a day. 

Phone/Skype: 4 hours.= Average .7 hours a day. 

Read: 1 hour 5 min.= .18 hours a day.

Played with 4 year olds: 2 hours.= .33 hours a day.

(19.1 total. so Misc: Chores, grass-lying, showers, eating, etc: 4.9 hours a day)

Eating/Consumption

Coffee: 9 in 6 days

Cigarettes: 4 in 6 days

Drinks: 2 in 6 days

Days in which I did not have hummus: 0 out of 6 days

Days in which I was Vegan: 2 out of 6 days

NOTE ON THE SEVENTH DAY: 

Each week is based on my activies for six days. Why? Because I did not record my actions or activities on Saturday/Shabbat/the Jewish Sabbath, which I usually observe by being with friends and family, eating a lot, sleeping a lot, singing, walking, turning off phone, computer, not riding in cars or spending money, and even not writing (which I usually enjoy, but there is a beautiful element of presentness that can be lessened when I know that I will write about an event or action later) et cetera. Shabbat keeps me sane and strong and joyful and I am so so thankful that I have and observe it. Thanks Aba and Ima, and Heschel, and Jacob.