Day Three.
Anotha day, another dollar. Right? Or maybe not?
I will save my thoughts (likely diatribe) on work-life balance for another day(s).
For now — I just want to mention an article I read today on the value of free time. And how “too much” free time can actually be as detrimental to our mental state as “too little.” I found this story interesting. The data seems to back up the theory, and I could understand how there is a sweet spot of two to five hours of free time that would result in the highest levels of life satisfaction.
Anecdotally, it does seem to make sense to me — as the article notes, I have definitely had those days/weeks/months when you feel like you can’t come up for air; the papers continue to pile up on your desk; you leave every day at work with what seems like an endless list of “to dos” undone, only to face increasing responsibilities at home. While admittedly I feel my days of “too much free time” are fewer and farther between, I have also had other days where I may have less to do, but I feel less productive at the end of the day. It’s almost like my sense of self is so used to running on overdrive that, once it gets a chance to go into second gear, it can’t move past idle.
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Where I would like to question the article is the lack of emphasis on the level of value that can be associated with either an insane or leisurely schedule. The article does acknowledge this exception — “When people with large amounts of free time spent that time with others or felt like they were passing the hours in a meaningful way, they didn’t experience that same drop in well-being [as they did with an abundance of free time].”
I think this is an important point to make; however, I am going to make it differently.
If someone who abides by the two/five hours a day of leisure feels completely unfulfilled in the other 22/19 hours a day, will those minute hours of leisure actually bring them satisfaction? Percentage-wise — this means that only about 8% and 20% of an otherwise unfulfilling day would equate to overall life satisfaction. In my opinion, this is a measly way to live.
Meanwhile — if you have less leisure time, but are feeling fulfilled in the full 24 hours of your day, would this not be more satisfactory? Or even better — is your day-to-day lifestyle bringing you enough satisfaction that even the “busy” hours of your day seem to bring you joy?! I think we could all agree that would be a more ideal lifestyle balance.
Perhaps we should work to ensure our full 24-hours are enjoyed in a fulfilling manner, as opposed to stipulating how and to what extent we should use a meager 8% of our day for enjoyment.
