Staring at the Keys

I stare at the keys. And my fingers itch to play. Something deep inside of me remembers how. But I can't spit it out. The music doesn't flow through my fingers like a cool stream runs along a river bank on a warm summer day as it used to. Like I remember it did. And like walking through a now dead but once vibrant garden, or seeing a once great but now broken friendship makes a person feel, I feel solemn as I continue to stare. I remember the bits of Les Miserables that I used to play. I remember the silly songs I used to make up. And in my head I can see the notes. But they are muddled now. Like I put on a pair of someone else's glasses. Like I'm staring at another language.
Oh my friends. Remember to make good use of your life. Don't waste yours as I have wasted mine. Not to say that my entire life is wasted, but I certainly haven't made good use of it. Or at least as good of use of it as I could have.
Do you know how many YouTube videos I've watched to date?
9,713
And that's just the ones I've watched on my account.
According to this site, the average YouTube video is 3 minutes and 53 seconds long.
Let's do a conservative estimate. Let's say that the average length of the YouTube videos that I have watched is 3.5 minutes. Just going off of the videos that I have viewed on my account to date, that equates to 33,995.5 minutes spent watching YouTube videos. That's 566 and a half hours. 23 and a half days worth of YouTube videos. And that's a conservative estimate.
That doesn't include movies I've watched. Videos watched on Vimeo. Videos I've watched on Facebook. Time spent on YouTube while not logged into my account. Replays of videos. Time spent looking for videos.
It doesn't include the hours and hours I spent playing Pokemon on my Gameboy when I was younger. It doesn't include the time on the GameCube. It doesn't include the time on the Play Station. The Xbox.
It doesn't include time still spent on Facebook, and Google+.
I am not saying that all forms of media and entertainment are bad. But there are better things to do.
Let's put this in perspective.
I work at my family's feed store for 6 dollars an hour, unless I'm working for commission. If I had spent just the time that I have spent on my account on YouTube at work, I would be 3,399 dollars richer. That's just at 6 dollars an hour, which is less than most people make by far.
I read books on average at about 12 hours per book. If I had spent all that time reading, I would be 47 books wiser than I am today.
It takes me about three hours to learn a new piano song. If I had spent all that time working on the piano, I would be 188 songs better.
I can practice one wrestling move about 120 times in an hour. If I had spent all that time practicing wrestling, I'd be 67,980 repetitions closer to perfection.
And a new friend... I can make one of those in less than a minute. That's 33,995 potential friends not made.
Those things just mentioned, they are worthy and noble causes. Causes in which I have spent much of my life. But not as much as I could have. Certainly not as much as I should have.
And what do I have to show for all the time I've spent watching YouTube videos? A whole bunch of things to make small talk about?
Pretty much.

Next time you look back at your life, your week, your day, or even your hour, and wonder what you have done with your time, think about this.
Remember this post.
Remember what you have the potential to do, and to be.
And then go do it.
Go be it.

I can't promise in this post that I will never watch another YouTube video.
I can't promise that I will never waste another second of my life.
But I can promise that I will sincerely try.
Will you make the same promise?