More free time. That’s what everyone wants, right? You know–Working for the weekend. Retirement.
But what is free time, really? A couple hours to binge Game of Thrones or catch up on The Bachelor.
(They tell me that The Bachelor escaped the house, made a break for it, and was on the lam. “They” are Ira Glass and the ‘This American Life’ crew. Yes, I podcast. Also, I tangent. And ramble.)
Decompression is good. Overload, overwork, overstress kills people, right? Sometimes we do need a break from it all. But is that break actual “free time”?
“They” say the average person lives just under 80 years (ie, 79.3). In days that’s 28,944.5. In hours, that’s 694,668.
Round numbers are nice. We live about 695,000 hours, then. Sht! That can’t be right, can it?
Right now, I betcha want a few of those precious hours back from 2010 that you gave to Snooky, Paulie D and The Situation.
You’ve got one life. And a short one as far as the “big picture” is concerned. (Post-Big-Bang and whatnot. The cataclysmic event, not the loveable show. Dammit. There, too, went a few hours of my free time…)
How much of our free time must we waste on mindless TV and endless Instagram scrolling?
Earmuffs to high-school Brian, but read a fcking book for crying out loud. Write something. A journal. A poem. A screenplay. A blog post about blogposts. Meta.
Research something. Learn something. Enroll in a free online course. From freaking Harvard?!?! Expand your mind (without illicit assistance).
Write. Paint. Start a company. Do someone a favor. Make a new friend.
Long story, short, we’ve got 695,000 hours on this planet. By age 30, we’ve already used up 263,000 of them. How many of those that remain are you giving to another Vanderpump Rules, Fortnite sesh, or Zuckerberg jet-fuel?
Free time isn’t so free when the clock is ticking. And it’s always ticking.
Leave a Reply