I’ve been struggling with time.
Changing your routine in every single way is rather bizarre. Suddenly I don’t have to get out of bed at 7. I don’t have to commute for hours to get to work (not until Monday anyway). I don’t get one hour for lunch; I can have the whole damn day. I don’t get back home late, and I don’t even have to cook, as it’s just as cheap/expensive to go out for diner every night.
I’m absolutely not complaining but this freedom of time is terrifying! I’m constantly thinking, ‘why do I have spare time, surely I should be busy for every precious minute…’
It reminded me of ‘About A Boy’ and the lessons from {Hugh Grant} about the importance of being ‘your own activities director’.
Without a job he told us ‘The key is to think of a day as units of time, each unit consisting of no more than thirty minutes. Full hours can be a little bit intimidating and most activities take about half an hour. Watching countdown: one unit.”
So I gave this a go! But unlike Countdown, life’s activities don’t seem to fit nicely within the allotted 30 minute windows. One unit at the gym feels like an eternity, whereas 4 units were accidentally consumed researching a windsurfing get-away for the weekend. (And these plans have now been thwarted by an incoming typhoon. Typical.)
My struggle with time has probably been highlighted because of the perfect lack of distraction that comes from working at home. I don’t have colleagues to chat to at any time of the day. I cant even bother friends back home until about 5pm, when they will finally be settled into their morning at work…{and probably too busy to chat}
Unlike hostel-life, serviced apartments aren’t great for meeting new people… so I am yet to get a crazy new social life.
Just as well then that my phone’s Whatsapp activity has been keeping me busy nonetheless! Whatsapp seems to be used for every kind of business communication here- from estate agents, to potential new bosses, to the internet installation companies. It’s great but takes some getting used to. Can you imagine Whatsapping Virgin Media to get fibre broadband fitted..? (One unit of back and forth chit-chat)
So I haven’t yet made any new friends to take me away from my studious days indoors… but I do have about 15 new Whatsapp contacts!
Right now, staying busy is all down to the whim of creative inspiration, which can arrive or desert at any time- with absolutely no regard for scheduled time slots. So some days I make/write/think so many things I feel totally inspired. And others I struggle to achieve a.single.productive.thing.
But like this ‘inspirational journal’ says, achieving just one thing a day is something. Even excessive mobile-messaging with high-speed internet providers is useful in the long run…
I guess soon enough this will be a ridiculous problem- ‘too much time! Ha’!
And for now, I will just keep doing something. And if you’re reading this, thank you for using half a unit of your day…
Em Royston Design 