Covid Awareness

MAKING YOUR FREE TIME CONSTRUCTIVE IN THE COVID-19 TIMES

There were times when we felt “too much time” is an illusion, and then there are times like these when there is a scarcity of activities to keep us engaged. Looking at it objectively, it seems like the more time we have, the better it is! But, does something like “too much free time” exist? If it does, is it destructive or constructive to have too much leisure time? Is it a skill that can be learned? Let’s take a good look at it.

The ongoing pandemic has blessed some people with ample time that they needed before. At first, it appeared as a boon, but with further thought rendering (effects of free time!) it started to become less of a black and white debate. While there are a million ways to use time productively, there are no fewer ways to spend time completely pointlessly. The danger is that we could end up in bed with nothing to do, but there are definitely ways to turn this string of disadvantages such as boredom and procrastination into constructive tools.

The only thing that could either make us feel great about where we’re investing our time or worthless about wasting so much is only one thing: ‘our perspective’ of what is worthwhile and what’s not. That is, to make our leisure time constructive we need to know what holds value to us. For example, taking care of ourselves, skincare routines, diets, workouts, etc. may be a part of something that is important to us, or becoming a part of activities that help in learning something new, or creating something new or resting or even doing nothing, anything that we feel is right for us. Once we have a list of things that are important to us, the next crucial step is to provide these activities with a timeline. These activities can be anything ranging from purely pleasurable and self-soothing to the ones that help us live with our values or accomplish a task or a goal. After identifying the areas of interest, and preparing a schedule, we should formulate a commitment to participate in one or more of these activities.

What we need to understand here before moving ahead is the importance of leisure time because it allows us to step back not only physically, but also mentally - from stress and daily hassles and allows us to disconnect from the outer world and form a stronger connection with the inner world. Even during the quarantine period, most of us are strangled by the happenings of the world that lies outside of us, having feelings of uncertainty about the future, ‘what’s going to happen next’ ‘what about my dreams’ ‘what about my exams’ ‘what about my career’ “how am I going to utilize my time’ ‘how to not waste time” etc. So despite having excess free time, we fail to give ourselves the time we deserve. Even when we’ve realized how important leisure time is to personal growth, we’ll have to fight the infinite number of conflicts that threaten to smother our discretionary time and that’s when our prepared schedule to utilize it comes to our rescue.

All this might seem like elevating leisure beyond what it deserves, but that depends on the value it has in our life. We spend our leisure time on what we value the most, even if it is watching television, using the internet, talking on the phone, housework or any other activity, even doing nothing, This is because according to psychological research doing nothing is essential for creativity and innovation, and a person’s seeming inactivity might actually cultivate new insights, and whatnot. No matter what the consequences are, one thing we can be sure about is the fact that we are doing it deliberately, and that in itself provides us with a constructive feeling of control.

Finally and most importantly, this pause in our lives that has been caused by the pandemic has shown us all that our day to day lifestyles can change in the blink of an eye, one very important lesson that can be learned from it is of embracing what and who we are, whether or not we do something or be creative or productive. At the end of the day, we’re all doing our best either way. While it may feel slightly stagnant, these long hours are actually helping us learn to embrace ourselves. The key to minding our mind, just as Susan Cain said is to: “spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you’re supposed to!”