Using pockets of free time
During this quarantine it may seem that society is put into an abrupt standstill. By now we are at around 11 weeks of the stay at home order. As we have established new routines as adapting and evolving human beings do, continue taking action with the newfound free time and stillness that comes with the quieter life.
Personally I have found myself no more or no less happy than I was pre-COVID.
Perhaps more aware of where my money frequently went before working at home, understanding which habits were important to maintain, being more deliberate with my health and hygiene and knowing how to make use of this newfound free time productively.
Even without a world-wide forced quarantine systemizing and automating life reduces much excess actions, thinking and stress. You become a vehicle that merely performs a set of actions.
In this strange period I am living reasonably well.
On the downside, this period has extended and will continue longer. Going at a set routine has me coasting or subsisting. It is not in my nature to have things remain stable.
It is with stability that we can afford taking action and experimentation.
With the structured life, accounting for leisurely activities: I find many pockets of free time that I could be utilized better. Such as learning something new, getting to things I normally put off or finally pursuing something I’m interested in.
Just because it is a natural season to start things anew we can’t always be starting new activities for the sake of feeling progress. Sometimes it is best to continue with what works but with little calibrations and adjustments for noticeable improvements.
One of my only guilty pleasure of consuming media is watching YouTube videos. On Thursday morning I was following a relatively new YouTube creator’s daily vlog (A video format that does not age well nor have much re-watchability)
I found value with two things he did in a day, even though it was a video fo pure entertainment:
- He write down a small handful of tasks that he would like to complete each day, among probably other journalling topics such as his thoughts and feelings. These tasks are not grandiose at all. They could be mundane things such as a specific workout, editing his videos or some work related things. He chooses to keep the tasks set to 3. He would physically check off a task when it is done and then proceed to noting his thoughts and feelings after finishing it. How satisfying!
- He allots a small chunk of time for a period of self-care. This can be anything but he used ten minutes to set quietly on the couch and listen to his favourite music on repeat. It is to give a little reward that gives that extra boost of motivation to continue going throughout his day.
I think those are great little things to do!
It is something that I am incorporating into my day to day to live a bit more intentionally. By analogy it would be like running a background process for my mind to come back to if I find myself occupying myself with things not as important. At the same time the self-care point allows some buffer if I am being too hard on myself.
For example, I can spend some time each day completing an objective for my hobby project each day or running a necessary errand. I definitely have time do to that. Then remember to reward myself with something that I like to do for fun, like a YouTube video or a cat nap :^)