Are you putting things off because you're bogged down in other stuff? Time to break free

Many years ago (and don't even ask how many) I went to the King's Island amusement park with some of my classmates. Once we arrived, we paired off in twos and threes to enjoy the park's amenities as the whole group of us was far too unwieldy to try to keep together.

So I trundled off with my friend Joyce, each of us thinking we had arrived early enough to avoid long lines for the best rides.

We were wrong.

We kept searching for rides where the lines were reasonable, but coming up short. By the end of the day, we hadn't actually been on very many — because after you wait in line 30-45 minutes for each ride (this was before the Disney system), stop on occasion to eat or visit the restroom, pretty soon the whole day is shot and you've managed maybe six or eight or maybe 10 thrills and spills. If you're lucky.

And as I recall, we didn't actually get that far.

At the end of that excursion, another member of our group asked if we'd had fun. Joyce wrinkled her face and said "we didn't plan our day very well."

Doesn't it sometimes seem as if life itself can be like that? That we're so consumed by looking for the right opportunity for work, play or socializing that we don't actually get around to playing and socializing, or we get stuck in a work routine and can't seem to get out of our rut?

And at a certain point we begin to get that nagging feeling that life is passing us by and there are still so many things we haven't done.

Once upon a time we called that a mid-life crisis — a term that, once upon a time, I attributed to people who were old or past it or both. Until last summer, when, during a brief newsroom discussion of music, I mentioned The Eagles and was met with a blank stare from one of our interns … and I realized that in her eyes, I might be old and past it myself.

(I mean seriously. The Eagles. Possibly the most iconic American band ever. But I digress.)

I've been thinking a lot lately about the things I want to do, and need to do, and things I'd like to just let go. And Joyce's words have come back to haunt me: Am I planning well enough to accomplish those things?

Or, once planned, do I have the time and energy to follow through, or am I being bogged down by other things I've convinced myself I'm obligated to do? As the cartoonist Allen Saunders said back in the '50s (and John Lennon later paraphrased), "life is what happens to us while we are making other plans."

Sadly, that hasn't changed. If anything, it's gotten worse.

Just this morning I apologized to a colleague because I was preoccupied — and not in a good way — with a particular situation that was only tangentially related to what we were doing. I came home at lunchtime and, upon letting the dog out to frolic in the serenity of our backyard, I realized how much space that issue was taking up in my head.

I don't want to think about it anymore. Stewing about it isn't going to change it, and It's spoiling my summer. And there are too many other things I could be thinking about.

And too many other things I could be doing.

Over dinner last week, some friends and I were discussing various activities we'd like to pursue this summer. And we started making a "summer bucket list" — what we want to do before summer kicks the bucket for the year.

These are not major endeavors, but fun outings like going together to a Boxcars game or popping back down to Harpers Ferry for an overdue visit — opportunities we take for granted because they're so close, but we don't always make the time for.

It's hot, hot, hot — but you don't have to let the heat spoil your summer.

My new goal is to revolt against the tyranny of the urgent and enjoy this summer. And maybe complete that summer bucket list.

I hope you will, too.

Just think about it for a moment: What are the things you've been wanting to do but haven't? What's stopping you?

There's plenty of summer left. Grab that list and start ticking those boxes off.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Make time to enjoy the things you want to do