How to use your free time well...

A long time ago, when the European colonists came to America, they landed with an agenda. They named it the “New World” because they were seeking a land to own, to expand upon. When they reached what we now call America, they were thrilled to have found it

Unused land.

Nobody was farming it or building on it, at least not to potential. Nobody was planning it. So the colonists took it upon themselves to educate the Native Americans. They “educated” them on how to use that land more effectively, more efficiently, more completely. Basically, they taught them to multi task, assuming that the slow paced solo tasking they were observing was an error to be fixed. A sign of lower awareness.

It never occurred to them. Maybe this solo tasking was on purpose and held wisdom.

Just maybe they were simply letting it BE land. They danced on it for celebration and sadness. They let their animals feed upon it to thrive. While I’ve never read about it specifically, I can only assume they let their children play upon it in their daily life. It would be consistent.

Today’s society is all about multitasking. We use our smart phones to check our email and text our friend to confirm tomorrow’s plans while food shopping. And then we wonder why we forgot half the items on our list or bought the decaf coffee by accident. We find a few hours of “free” time and we pack it to the brim with our essential “to do” lists, then feel frustrated with ourselves when we don’t complete our totally irrationally lengthy lists.

Yeah, that sounds like wisdom to me. Not. And yet we persevere, creating more and more technology to increase our chances of success. It’s like it has never occurred to us to cut our lists in half or to simply drop our expectations.

And don’t get me wrong. I’m not judging. Ok, maybe I am. But I’m judging myself as well, so I feel a little less judgmental.

The other day, I dropped my kids off at their afternoon preschool, like usual. Normally, this is followed by racing to my car so that I can use my “free” two hours as effectively as possible. I do laundry, clean the house, plan dinner, send a few emails, run errands and make those business calls that I just can’t complete with two kids in the house around my ankles. I even put these lists into my calendar in the absurd hopes that I will complete it.

I know. I’m insane.  But I’m in good company, if that makes it more forgivable.

That day, however, something happened. One of the other moms and I made a passing comment to each other at school drop off and a conversation developed. A really fun conversation, by the way. The daughter of this mom, a wonderful little girl, loves my daughter and my daughter loves her. They run squealing to hug each other when they see each other every day. It’s pretty cute.

And so we chatted. About kids. About life. About men. About shopping. You know… we just chatted. And we both cracked up more than once. Then, I went home and instead of going into my house, I went to my neighbor’s house. She just had a significant surgery and is housebound during the recovery period. I had just received an email from her that she was ready for visitors and that I should stop by whenever.

And so I did. I mentally dropped my VERY IMPORTANT “to do” list and chatted with my neighbor. It was great. By the time I left, she was laughing and I felt a thousand pounds lighter, despite not having been “productive”. My headache even went away. Imagine that.  

The laundry waited, it wasn’t going anywhere. The emails I hadn’t replied to weren’t going to delete themselves in the next 8 hours. Dinner could be a hodgepodge of leftovers and nobody would complain. My neighbor, however, was recovering RIGHT THEN. Not later. And we both needed some good, healthy socialization to feel more human.

Who says I didn’t use my time well? I think I used it perfectly.