Free Time To Free Your Life

Everyone has free time. It’s the best! Some have more than others, like with anything, but everyone has some amount of free time. It can be used in all manner of different ways. Nothing says you need to be doing work during it to free your life, but that’s one way of doing it. Free time, or that which is outside your regular duties of survival/life, is important to use wisely. Nevertheless, that “using wisely” part is dependent on what you want out of life and what is available to you. 

Say you’re a computer programmer that wants to write a book in her free time, well, then one way to get there is to use your free time to study different writing styles. Maybe you’re a warehouse worker that wants to spend more quality time with your family, well, then the key to that would be knowing what “quality” means individually to each person in your family. Maybe you want to get closer to God, well, then a good way to use your free time would be studying the Bible, praying, and talking to others about God. Maybe you want to make more money, well, then I guess you could study the stock market or search for different ways to get a higher paying job. Maybe you need more rest, well, then you shouldn’t be doing any work and should just be relaxing instead!

Mostly though, this ARTicle is for people who want to grow and accomplish things with their free time. So, if you’re that kind of person, then let us continue on. Life is full of things to do and explore. My recommendation is to be singleminded on things that you’re sure you want to focus on, but on other things to be more open minded so you can discover new things and gain new experiences. After all, what is life but our experiences and that which we leave behind for others? 

In order to get where we need to go, I’d prefer to ask you questions and put everything on you. I can’t tell you specifically what to do for yourself, only help you ask the questions to get you where you want to go. So, after figuring out a couple things you want to do with your free time, the best thing to ask yourself is “how” you actually go about accomplishing them. That’s simple enough. That answer will be dependent on what you’re looking for. Nevertheless, take for example if you want to spend more time with your 13 year old son. Well, a good thing to do is find out what your son enjoys, what free time he has and how he uses it, and what sort of duties he has in life. It’s not simply a matter of trying to force your son to hang out with you and do what you want. That’s not really a recipe for a good, strong relationship, even if you could just tell your son what to do as a parent to a teenager. After all, we’re talking “quality” time here, not just time. Invest in the future after he is grown, not just the present.

After asking some of the right questions, the next key is to figure out the best way to go about it. Let’s go back to the coder who wants to write a book in her free time. She would be best served figuring out what sort of story she wants to write and in what genre. Then she would best served studying the works of those who wrote in a similar vein to her ideas. That storytelling study could be in books, films, video games, music, or any of the diverse forms of storytelling. After all, storytelling has evolved into more than just books and songs these days. Now storytelling even delves into virtual reality. So, after searching for some similar stories of the same genre and kind of story she wants to write, she would be best served figuring out which ones she enjoys and identifies with the most — to fall in love with them, so to speak. Then, after falling in love with some of those stories, it would be wise to study story structure and reread/rewatch those stories to see how they fit into story structure. Then she would be ready to create stories of her own with a clear frame of reference to build upon.

As you’re probably starting to see, everything is circumstantial. No one thing is exactly the same, but most things hold similar paths to accomplishment. That path to accomplishment is: 1) finding out what you want to accomplish, 2) asking the right questions to understand your unique choice, and 3) finding some different things that help you open those doors to the final thing, which is creating your goal into reality.

There is no point in going through all of this if you’re not actually going to make good on what you have chosen. You might fail at times, but that’s to be expected. The key is continuing to grow and learn until you accomplish what you want to accomplish. Persistence is the key to success. You might struggle with consistency at first, but the more you persist the more natural you become at having the kind of life that you want, and that’s the goal. Giving yourself purpose in your free time is a powerful thing. I remember when I was younger that all I enjoyed doing was having fun and learning/experiencing different things, and that’s perfectly all right when you’re younger. Nevertheless, when you get older you often find that you want to add some meaning to your life outside of your daily job, unless you’re one of those people that landed their perfect job with a perfect boss and perfect coworkers right out of the gate. If that doesn’t happen to be you though, then your free time is a good place to start in getting more of what you want out of your skills, abilities, relationships, and life. After all, you get one shot at this life you’re living.

To use an example from my life, as a filmmaker, it would have been fun to discover that talent when I was a youth, but I’m also happy that most of my youth was more about experiences and discovery. So, don’t fret about your age. We’ll always wish we discovered many different things sooner. Maybe your childhood is different, but adulthood is the same for everyone — goals and accomplishments. There’s nothing more rewarding than living a life that rewards others, yourself, and leaves behind something (maybe even a legacy) for others to use, enjoy, and be thankful for. I hope this helps you think about your free time in a different and more productive way! It need not be stressful, but actually bring a restfulness of purpose and focus to your soul, so don’t stress too much about it. Enjoy your free time by creating things that are enjoyable, whatever that may be. It will be different for everyone, so don’t be too quick to judge others in what they choose. We’re all unique people on unique paths.