What would you do if you had unlimited time to yourself today?
/I saw a post on Instagram recently that really got me thinking. It said
“If we’re not careful, time-consuming full-time jobs insulate us from needing to truly know ourselves.”
That resonated with me.
I immediately went to google to look up the word insulate to better understand how it was used in this context.
Merriam-Webster’s definition said “To place in a detached situation: ISOLATE”
Interesting.
So, essentially, my full-time job could be separating me from NEEDING to know my true full self. 40 hours a week spent working could prevent me from having the space, time and mental capacity to allow myself to explore my interests and desires. Having a time-consuming job could take up just enough energy to leave me with none at the end of the day or week to figure out who I am and what I love.
Hmm. It makes sense. If I’m spending 8 primetime hours a day, when I’m the most alert and productive, dedicating my attention to a full-time job and approximately 8 hours a day sleeping, that only leaves me with about 8 hours to spend the time “how I would like to spend it”. (I put that in quotes because I have a 5-month-old and he tends to dictate how I spend most of my free time.)
But wait, back to that last 8 hours…that’s actually a decent amount of time. That’s literally ⅓ of my day. Obviously, we have to factor in the mental and physical burden of working from home full-time, while parenting full-time plus time for eating, showering, timing of my son’s naps, and the other simple necessities, like scrolling on Instagram and Facebook lol. But, even with a baby, I bet I have a good 1-2 hours to spare everyday.
So, I went back to reread the post to see if I still agreed with it. It said
“If we're not careful, time-consuming full-time jobs insulate us from needing to truly know ourselves.”
This time, “If we’re not careful” is the part that really stood out.
So, what if I was careful?! What if I valued my time enough to ensure I had at least 1 hour a day to dedicate to myself? Or what if it isn’t only about time? What if it’s really about intention?
I keep telling myself that I want to stop living for the evenings and the weekends. That I want freedom and choice to do what I want, but why have I convinced myself that it has to be all or nothing? Why can’t I find ways to start baking in that freedom and choice that I desire every single day, even if it’s only for a couple minutes or hours a day.
Since discovering that post and working through this stream of consciousness, I’ve been trying to be more intentional about how I can spend more time doing things that I enjoy or just simply want/need to do.
One thing I’ve been doing is journaling. Each morning, I answer a very specific question: “What would you do if you had unlimited time to yourself today?”
What started as just a journal prompt, has begun to transform my days. Each day I may list up to 10 different things that I would like to do for the day if I had time. Most days the list is simple with tasks related to cleaning the house or cooking a meal, but other days the tasks are more creative like starting a passion project or developing a new skill.
Here’s what I’ve learned so far:
When I give myself space to think about what I’d like to do for the day, even if I can’t do those things, it sets an intention for the day. One that allows me to look for times throughout the day where I can maybe squeeze in some of those things I would like to do.
I have way more freedom and choice during the day than I realized.
Visualization leads to inspired action. Making my list visible acts as a reminder to do more of the things that I want and that add value versus letting time pass me by.
Rest is also an action (and is different from sleeping). Some days I can intentionally choose to just rest. There’s way more freedom in making that choice, than getting to the point where I’m so exhausted that I just fall asleep on the couch, and wake up regretting not being productive.
So many good things have come from this very simple task that I have begun to do every morning. It literally only takes a couple minutes and it’s not complex at all. I do it while I’m still laying in my bed. I’ve created a running, bulleted list in Google Docs so I’m also able to look back on what I wrote on previous days. I also choose not to track whether or not I was able to complete any of the tasks. For me, it’s not about increasing productivity, it’s about the feeling of freedom and choice. It sounds counterintuitive because I never have time to complete all the things on any day, but it feels good knowing that I COULD make time to just start ONE of these things if I chose to.