How much is too much?

This is the question I should be asking myself every day, in everything I do. Most of what I do is a good thing to do, but there is no possible way I can do as much of what I want to do as I want to do.  As Paul says, not everything that is permissible is profitable. There is a difference, and it is important for me to constantly be reassessing the situation in order to make that distinction.

For instance, I've woken up after noon both yesterday and today, and thereby cheated myself of the chance to be profitable because I am insatiable and unwise.  If I'd woken up earlier, I could have called in to my temp agency and asked if they had any jobs for me.  And even if they hadn't, I could have made a plan to accomplish things around the house that would lay a solid foundation for the next day, decreasing uncertainty and increasing the opportunity to solidify my income.  Dan and I are in the "starving newlywed" phase of our lives, and although we thank God every day for the richness of this very life we live, every penny does count, and time is money, so every hour counts. 

Dan comes home from work very late these days (about 10pm), and always feels the need to unwind by watching a TV show. I wish he'd play video games instead! I enjoy watching him play video games, but I'm much more able to multi-task when one of those is going on, as opposed to a show.  I get too involved in the story and the action. I get addicted. I become consumed, and can't even break away enough to think about whether or not this is actually my highest priority, or whether there's something else I would rather look back and see that I'd accomplished. I wish I were stronger, and could make better decisions in a situation like that.

Lately, I've been nurturing a sourdough starter (named Clyde), and regularly baking bread by hand. This has been helpful in prolonging our time between grocery-shopping trips, though it is a time-consuming process, so the trade-off is that I have less time to deal with many of the other homemaking tasks I usually assign myself.

Often, before I go to sleep, I like to unwind by playing a game of Sudoku on my Nook.  Again, the danger of addiction is there. It's very difficult to stop at one.

I've also come to enjoy processing photos in Photoshop. I learn something new every time, and I quench my thirst for creativity by turning images of loved ones into comic-book style graphics, or turning a self-portrait into abstract art in color schemes ranging from black and white to vibrant neons.  But it's not unusual for me to sit down at the computer and get involved in a project, only to close the file without saving changes six hours later. I need to learn to stop before I've gone too far.

I need to learn how much is too much.