They said that if something really is your passion, then you will always make time to do it regardless. When one puts it that way, it may be true though. We tend to always make time for something that we like the most. To many, it’s a form of therapy and quite cathartic, especially when the day is not going the way we hope for. Pretty much everyone’s end goal is to find happiness, and doing our hobby or passion is one of the things to find and feel so.
Recently though, I’ve come to consider several few things before taking some time for hobbies no matter how busy we are. While such advise is inspiration, it’s probably easier said than done. We, as imperfect human beings, are never really that simple. If we can just find time to do the things we like, I guess the number of depressed and bored people would significantly dwindle and everyone would more successful in life and happier. I think our availability in doing things depends on motivation, discipline, commitment, and energy. And those before considering responsibilities and social life.
Motivation – I assume the primary reason why we are doing something is either because it makes us happy or is beneficial for ourselves or other people, whether be it in the long or short run. After all, if we’re happy and feel better while doing it, that’s all that matters, right?
Discipline – Determines how frequent we can or want to do it. Schedule exists to help us keeping tabs on it. It is especially important when we want to be active and produce the best result as we can give.
Commitment – A hobby or passion, even a responsibility like a job, wouldn’t last long if we don’t have good enough of a commitment to do it. If we can’t commit, we may as well do something else since lack of commitment prevents us from feeling happy and doing our best, no?
Energy – We are not robots who can do many tasks at the same time, at an extended period of time. Though some people may be able to do and focus on a lot of things at once, I’m not certain any of us can do something in a long time without breaks.
And then there’s time, the one thing that determines our availability in doing something on a day, week, or month. Everything takes time, but the question lies on how good we are at managing them.
When we are adults, there are often many things to make time for besides hobbies and passions; work, social life (which includes friends and family), and rest. There’s only so much we can on a day, especially if work takes around 75% of our time. But it’s not all that bad, we still have weekends, unless we also work on Saturday or Sunday, leaving only one day off. Even then, can we guarantee on those days, we wouldn’t have had work to do or are not too tired to entertain ourselves? Plus, besides time and fatigue, there is also a matter of money. Money is not everything, sure, but it allows us to do, buy, and enjoy a lot of things.
to take a breather
By the time we reach adulthood, we will have so many responsibilities, which makes it difficult to spare some time do things we want, unlike when were kids. Unless we really have nothing much to do, then we can have all the time in the world to some extent. In our 30s, I guess it always comes down to these; either we have too much time or have no time at all. The former is usually when we are unemployed, or the very least freelancing, while the latter is when we have a full time job. Having a job means we have to commit on it, and depending on what is it, won’t be always available to do anything else at all, let alone things that we enjoy. When we do finally have some time, we tend to use it to rest because at that point, we may be too tired already from the hustle and bustle of work. Not to mention if we have such irregular work shifts and there’s a long gap between on and off-the-clock days. But not everyone has this same issue I guess. I myself have done different jobs with various routine intensity.
And there’s a matter of money; we can only do and enjoy certain things when we are not in debt or completely bankrupt, yes? That’s basically the main reason why we need jobs, even if we don’t really thoroughly enjoy doing it. But despite all that, we still have hobbies to keep ourselves sane and entertained. Yet, we still need to make time for them. But with our responsibilities, we don’t really have much time, unless we’re willing to burn ourselves out. But then how much time do we usually need to do our hobbies?
I wonder if the lack of time management skills is one of the reasons why the word “healing” shows up often on my news and social media feed lately. We need vacation, or some alone tim to do anything for ourselves. We can also try to invite friends since chances are they are experience by the very same thing that we are going through. And here’s the thing; when they finally can spare some time for us, sometimes we may not have time for them instead. Been there done that, right?
When we have to choose between doing our interest and spending time with people we are close to, I figure we should choose the latter. While doing things we enjoy may spark joy, spending time with people we care about would double that feeling as it affects both us and the other participants. Besides, with how world can throw such a curveball at us, keeping the closest companions often worth it in a long run. And we never know when they probably need us. Sure, spending time with people may also be tiring as heck (especially for introverts), but I reckon it would be worthwhile, because occasionally happiness is meant to be shared. And if not, at least we can be tired together.
It’s easy to come up with schedules and managing our activities, but acting on it and when to do it are two different questions. Things don’t always come as expected and before we know it, one thing can totally throw a wrench in our schedule and derails everything. But… guess we have to enjoy it and find another way to deal with it. No matter how hectic it is, we can always do what we want to do, when we’re not too busy or tired. When we’re tired, do take a break, and find a time to do it another day, yes? It’s hard, probably, but still doable.
Keep up the good work guys, weekend is coming soon~
The Mind Report 
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