What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
Is this not the same thing as answering the 5 things we like to do for fun? For reference, check out I’m Not as Old as My Hobbies Seem. That lists what I like to do in my leisure time. But I feel compelled to reflect on leisure time as a whole. For most of my adult life, I was a teacher. I had hobbies and things I liked to do for leisure, but most of my down time at home was an extension of work. I had to grade papers and write lesson plans mostly. My old boss required us to turn in formal lesson plans every Monday that followed a very specific format. No matter how many times we tried to get her to relent on that requirement, she never did. She said they were for us, not her. Even when I was a principal myself, I never fully agreed with that whole “it’s for your own good” kind of mentality when it came to making teachers spend so much time writing plans.
The Timehop app that I use that shows me what I posted on social media on this day for each of the however many years has repeatedly reminded me of just how much time I have spent at home over the years doing school work. I just accepted that it was something I had to do because I was a teacher and that was part of the job description. That’s why teachers enjoy summer so much. It’s two months of having authentic downtime at home.
I look back on those posts and I cringe because I wonder how I put up with that for so long. Now that I am out of grad school and out of the teaching profession, I have that much coveted free time at home. But what’s ironic about it, is that I don’t have as much of it as I think I do. When I was a teacher, my workday ended when the kids left at 3:00. I was home by 3:30, except on the first Wednesday of the month when there was a faculty meeting after school. Getting off at 3:00 meant that I had time to run errands after school and still have time to spare when I got home.
Now, I get off at 5:00 and any errands after school eat into my evening. Even with nowhere to go after work, I don’t have as much time to play with the dogs, cook dinner, and relax before it’s time to go to bed and start all over the next day. My husband and I are both too tired to do anything other than those three things in the evenings. That leaves the weekend to catch up on what we didn’t get done during the week…laundry, dishes, vacuuming, etc. It’s a never ending cycle of tiredness during the week, and chore catch-up on the weekends.
And in the midst of all of that, I have so many things I want to do! I have a pile of books that I want to read and am trying to read. I have a massive stash of yarn and patterns that I want to knit/crochet. I have a book that I want to write. So while I have the free time at home that I have longed for throughout all my years of teaching and not having any, I really don’t have as much as I think.
I’m often torn trying to decide what I want to do with the little time I have. Should I devote time to working on the sweater I’m knitting? Or what about finishing the book I’m reading?
Though my resolution this year was to not have resolutions and to do only what I feel like doing without the pressure of self-imposed timelines and goals, I almost think goals would be helpful.
The book I’m writing can easily be broken down into small chunks. Perhaps if I gave myself two weeks for each chunk? Or set a goal to finish reading a book in three weeks? That way, I can organize my time focused on one project.
That’s good in theory, but I am still a fan of the idea that if I feel like reading, I’ll read my book for a while. If I feel like knitting, I’ll work on my sweater.
Ack! Leisure time is becoming stressful! I want to do all the things and yet, there’s not enough time! And because I’m not a teacher, I don’t get summer breaks to spend every day doing fun stuff. In fact, given my current job, summer is going to be a very busy time for me!
Referring back to the original question…what do I enjoy doing most in my leisure time? I guess I’m going to have to simply say, everything.
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