We operate in a culture that celebrates busyness. Everyone has to make productive use of every hour of the day to feel like they are contributing to their own lives and the world around them. Free time is a scarce commodity, with vacations and breaks becoming a rarity, especially since the pandemic.
By Team Savant
Image: Toa Heftiba
Modern humans, though, never really switch off, even when they do manage to take time off work. They’re tethered to their smartphones, answering an endless list of messages and scrolling through their notifications. The process doesn’t stop.
When things do slow down a little — which is one of life’s great inevitabilities — it can feel like you have too much time on your hands. You have no idea what to do with yourself. It makes you feel uncomfortable that you have nothing to keep you occupied until Monday morning.
However, research from psychology is showing that stopping all mental and physical activity for a while can be a good thing. You don’t always have to pedal faster to achieve personal growth. You’re allowed to rest.
Steve Jobs often talked about the importance of “dead time.” He was a highly creative person and headed up the world’s largest company. But he still found space to stop and clear his mind of all the things that could cloud it. The reason he did this was because he saw the advantage in stopping every now and then. Dead time wasn’t wasted time. Instead, it was a chance to recuperate and consolidate. Breezes might blow all morning, but they don’t continue ceaselessly for years at a time.
When you have time to yourself, you’re able to focus on personal maintenance and wellbeing. Yes, you enjoy working hard and building success in your life. But you also recognise that the goal is to actually deliver yourself more free time for you to enjoy yourself. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of all your effort?
The wonderful thing about having time on your hands is that it means that you don’t have to do anything purposeful. You can just enjoy the experience of being alive itself. People, for instance, don’t play music to get to the end as quickly as they can. Instead, it’s all about the journey and not the destination.
The same goes for those who build model figurines. Brands like Piececool are successful because they provide an artistic outlet for people. The process of making the model is fun. It’s not a chore.
Just remember that time won’t last forever. The experiences that you are having today will never come again. So having the space to enjoy them represents a life well-lived. If you’re always rushing about from one destination to another, chasing the final product, you never get an opportunity to enjoy life right now. And that means you're missing out, no matter how important your work is.
If you have a little extra time on your hands these days, then enjoy yourself. Work on your body, focus on healing your mind, and allow life to happen.