“Spare” Time
Since I came back from Granada (Journey chronicle is on the way, I promise), I´ve been quite busy with small errands that have consumed a lot of time. So, I had to break the chain, a shame, since I love writing. But I realized that the “spare time belief” is simply a fallacy. There´s no such thing. Considering an unemployed person as idle or with a lot of free time is completely false. In these weeks I have discovered something I call the “Compulsive Time Occupation Syndrome”, that means that the Spare Time concept doesn´t exist.
Let me explain: this society is clearly slanted towards the “doers”, and the people that doesn´t comply with this, is separated and by all means “invited” to “get back on track” as soon as possible. Now I´m living proof that the compulsive “do it” behavior kills creativity and our basic emotions. It seems that putting all kind of things in our life makes us feel secure, with something to hang to avoid losing course and to comply with all that is expected from us.
And so it continues. Our life is bloated with “must do´s” to be able to demonstrate others and ourselves that we´re are good citizens contributing to the whole society´s well-being, thinking that work is the essential form to fulfill our desires and reach happiness, but at the same time, forgetting the most important things: those that we love and make us feel motivated. We avoid being idle at all costs, but paradoxically, we´re always longing for that spare time to change gears and relax.
But, once we have that time at our disposal, we don´t know what to do with it and we start to get mad. Even some people says “I know you, and soon you´ll be begging to return to the crazy work world you´re ranting about now”. The worst thing is that many times we give up too early to the comfort of the routine and waste the chance to discover what really is the spare time and how to stop completely, allowing our minds to find again the correct track, and we return once again to the rat race we were just leaving behind, asking ourselves why are we more tired every day.
I have good and bad news. Good news is that IT IS possible to have free time and enjoy it, without being intoxicated with all the things that we´re supposed to do in this kind of situation, but taking our time to find out that many times we simply don´t want to do anything, without feeling guilty, as a way to realize what motivates us. Bad news is that the process is not easy, and requires huge amounts of patience and time, but the final outcome is worth it.
Most of you will be amazed when you discover that the fundamental things really needed to live a happy life are very few, and the rest can be left behind with no regrets.
Are you ready to take a deep look inside and have some free time now?
