Personal Growth - What Do You Do With Your Time?
It has been about 5 months now that I’m taking Mondays off work. Since then I have lots of friends and colleagues asking me “What do you do on Mondays then?”, “Aren’t you bored just doing chores at home for Mondays?”, or making comments like “That’s great, now you can watch all the TV programmes!” and “Wow, you can go shopping every Monday!”
Ummm…no. In fact I don’t watch TV much, and I spend even less time shopping these days. I still haven’t been to Sylvia Park, the latest and most modern shopping complex in Auckland, but I don’t feel that I need to check it out. I will eventually, when I feel like going. And the chores? What chores? I don’t think of laundry and cleaning up as chores anymore, because I can do them leisurely now that I have the time. I like having a clean and tidy house, so I feel that all that I do around the house are for myself. Of course I don’t mind! Turn the radio or CD on, and I jive in between tasks!
So what do I do with my extra time?
You see, there are so many things in life that I have not seen and do. Some I don’t even know exists. I believe that these things are endless, and the chance is that I won’t be able to experience them all in my entire lifetime. Regardless, I want to make the best use of the limited time gifted to me in this world.
Years ago I promised myself to do at least one new thing every year. It does not matter whether I continue doing it or not. If I like it, I’ll continue. If I don’t I’ll move on to other things. No sweat!
Did I say new things? Actually, it could also be a new habit, or re-learning something that you did in the past and haven’t done for a long time. Just recently I found that I can still play piano and read music sheets, albeit very slowly, but not bad at all! I took some basic lessons when I was 12, and quit by 15 (guys, this is a looong time ago!) because I didn’t think I was good enough or have the patience to keep going and chose to do sports instead because they were more fun.
It’s funny, we have this clavinova (electric piano) for years. I always enjoy seeing my husband playing, especially when he does his jazzy tunes, but never thought that I should start learning again until recently. I have different circumstances now, where nobody tells me when and how to practice, and it makes the experience so much more enjoyable. I don’t know if I can ever get to my husband’s level of mastery (seriously, he’s really, really good!), but the fact that I started and keep going beats not doing it and keep thinking that I can’t do it.
By the way, if you’re curious, here’s a sample of the songs that my husband created out of thin air. Whenever he is feeling creative, he would sit in front of his clavinova or keyboard or grab his guitar, and start playing some tunes straight from within his head. When I asked him what song this is, he said it is “Spontaneous BrainDump Opus 1 Number 1”. Wow. The joy of having a creative, musical and slightly geeky husband…
Spontaneous BrainDump Opus 1 Number 1 by Andre Sumara
Did you enjoy that? That’s what my husband does when he has free time. Now it’s time to discover what you want to do with your time. Have fun!
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Tags: happy, happy living, how to be happy, inspiration, personal development, personal growth, reduced working hours, stress-free