The majority of people feel they must be doing something all the time. Many who sit all day in an office or clean the house or work in a factory think that if they sit down at a sidewalk cafe and fold their arms and look at people, they are merely wasting time. They are wrong. In watching people and enjoying life, they may only then be truly alive.
—Artur Rubinstein
Do you feel you are frittering your life away if you’re not being productive? What do you do for fun? When do you feel truly alive?
(Full disclosure. This post is quick because I spent a good part of the day playing a word game. I don’t feel the time was wasted.)
January 19, 2022
What word game? I’m getting tired of my Solitaire game. And Wordle is too fast and can only be played once a day.
i just started playing playing PuzzWord, an Apple app. It’s like Wordle but you don’t need an internet connection and there’s no daily limit . It looks as if WordleGame… https://wordlegame.org… also has no limit. I can usually solve the PuzzWord one, but on some I have to think for quite a while to figure it out. With no daily limit I can breeze through the easy ones and still exercise my brain. I also play Sudoku and Just Jumble on my iPad.
Ya, I often/usually do feel like I’m wasting time if I don’t have something to show for the time I’ve spent. I have to work at just being and enjoying…
You have a lot of choices for activities now!
nope! I don’t feel I’ve wasted time like that at all.
my gram had that new england puritan work ethic!
“idle hands are the devil’s workshop” and all that.
there is nothing wrong with being Still. nothing at all.
we have plenty of things to keep us busy. it’s good to reflect.
at least I’ve found it so. xo
🙂
I totally agree with this quote. Wonder why so many civilizations think we should be working and productive every waking hour? Even God rested on the seventh day! And the bible says “Be still and know that I am God”.
In some places it’s a matter of survival. In the case of the U.S. I think a lot of people have the New England Puritan ethic that tammy talks about.
I’m always feeling like I’m wasting my time on my days off and in the evenings after work. I feel like I should be doing something else. I definitely wish I was spending more time crafting but for whatever reason I can’t get myself to do it.
Maybe it’s too big a step? Is there something creative you can do in smaller pieces, while you’re resting? Would that be a step in the right direction?
It depends. On how I feel. Someday a waste of time is a good respite and I see nothing wrong with it. Other days, being active is a good thing. It just depends
But you think some activities are a “waste of time”? Not worth doing for their own sake, for the joy they bring you? Or because they feed your soul or exercise your body or you brain? If it doesn’t enrich your life then I agree they could waste of time.
I don’t think doing things that make us happy or healthy or both are never a waste of time. the only time it would be wasted in my opinon, is if a person was living in a filthy enviorment and just sitting around doing nothing but watch tv or drinking or things that harm others in their home. I agree with this quote all the way. People watching is one of my favorite things to do. i call it entertainment. playing games or blogging or reading is not a waste of time.
I’m with you!
If I have done what needs to be done, I dont feel guilt…but there are a lot of times i do feel guilty. I feel I have gotten so slow. Things i used to accomplish in a morning take all day…and i feel I am seldom caught up.
Welcome to the club. That’s the new normal for Andy and me. 😀
Unlike my late father, on days w/o an agenda I’m content to while away time — whether it be blogging, reading or word games. No guilt!
Now, a steady diet of one or the other would feel loathsome; I’m happy to do life somewhere in the middle.
A steady diet of anything would be too much. I still remember Bread and Jam for Francis, a book Kaitlin and I read when she was little. You can imagine what it was about.
Hi all,
I enjoy Wordle, just recently heard about it.
But when I feel most alive is when I’m out walking, doing my version of forest bathing, feeling the air, loving long views. Lately I’ve been looking up more at the tops of trees. It feels like a discovery; they are so Tall!
You have a wonderful place to do that! 🙂
I’m happy to be in my second childhood where I play all day. I’m reminded of all I learn while reading fiction. I remember our daughter asking me, “How do you know that” and my reply “I must have read it somewhere.” I also remember being surprised at how good I was at the sports section of Trivial Pursuit as a result of reading Dick Francis mysteries which are all set in the world of various types of horse racing. In reality most of us are learning all the time–right now it’s increasing my vocabulary of 5-letter words playing Wordle and PuzzWord.
That’s the spirit! When people used to ask me what I was doing, I said I was enjoying my second childhood even more that I did the first. 😀
I spend a lot of time doing basically nothing – but somehow I can still keep the “home fires” in good order. At the moment, I have alarms set for all kinds of reasons and sometimes I think “wow, is it really that time…” having spent the last few hours reading!
Yes, I would love to wander away from home, and that’s when I’m known to waste many hours drifting around town…but that’s not happening right now.
It sounds as if you’re handling COVID extremely well. 🙂
I do like to be busy, but as I have aged, I have turned a lot to word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, and reading. I am going to have to check out Puzzword too.
I like to immerse myself in quiet activities. For me it’s exercising my body and my mind in fun ways. We live in an apartment so there are few chores to be done. I love it 🙂