I stumbled upon this piece that I wrote a few years ago for a collaborative blog that no one really saw but a few friends. Since I never really shared it before, I thought I would share these thoughts today. I tweaked it a bit to make a a bit more current, but it’s mostly the same…
Man’s Quest for Leisure Time:
As much as I love my life–I have a steady job, a great husband, a wonderful family, amazing friends, and good health–I realized that sometimes I think the grass is still always greener. A few years ago, this became evident to me while embarking on a dinner date with friends. Cruising the Upper East side with “That Vacation Guy”, “Violet of Leisure”, and “Summer Yaffa Dalia” (names have been modified to protect their identities ha), I felt like the loser who couldn’t stay out late because I had work tomorrow. While they could go off galavanting to the next piano bar or Irish pub, I had to go upstairs, vacuum my apartment, and get ready for bed. How fun is that?
I know I should be happy that I have a full time job, so that I have money to pay bills and go on said dinner dates, but don’t you ever feel like you waste half of your life sitting and staring at a computer screen waiting for the time to pass by so you can get back to your “real life?” It’s not that I don’t like my job; I do. I actually enjoy it. But I like not working so much more. I love the freedom of roaming around finding fun adventures to take part in, not having a curfew, waking up whenever I feel like, & enjoying the sunshine outdoors (instead of seeing it shine through my office window).
My 9th grade history teacher once brought up a topic of discussion about “man’s quest for leisure time.” You work hard to make lots of money, until you can afford to pay people to do the work for you, freeing up yourself for more fun adventures in life. In other words: work hard to play hard. Except if you work hard enough, you can eventually just play. This has been evident all through history, and this mentality still exists in a lot of people today.
More and more people I know in our generation don’t want to work for someone else–they want to be entrepreneurs with their own businesses, doing things they enjoy, making their own schedules, still working (because most of us still have to), but working at their leisure, and making sure there is enough time for travel, rest, and fun.
I often wonder what my life would be like as a “freelancer” per say, and what exactly I would even do? Or if I did eventually work so hard that I never had to work again…would I then not appreciate leisure time as much? Would I take it for granted? Would I become bored with it? Would the grass actually be greener–or is that just a fantastic notion? I suppose time will only tell, but for now, I will just continue on my own quest for leisure time–working hard to play hard.
Hope ya’ll have a good week!
XO,
Gina