[HN Gopher] Too much free time may be almost as bad as too little
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       Too much free time may be almost as bad as too little
        
       Author : porterde
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2021-09-09 19:34 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.apa.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.apa.org)
        
       | eplanit wrote:
       | Yes, but then there are examples like this guy:
       | 
       | https://www.businessinsider.com/woodworker-drivable-wooden-b...
       | 
       | ...who I hope gets as much free time as is possible.
        
         | bpodgursky wrote:
         | Is it really "free time", if you've committed to an ambitious
         | professional (he's a carpenter) project to fill the time?
         | "Treat your hobby as a job" seems compatible with the OP
         | thesis.
        
       | loa_in_ wrote:
       | Anecdotally I can report myself having an enormous excess of free
       | time but only because I'm in a tough financial and mental
       | situation, I have no job, but I'm also living a very frugal
       | lifestyle to compensate. This frugality leads to few
       | possibilities to meaningfully go forward. For the last year and
       | until next month or so I'm having basically unlimited free time,
       | but I'm not happy about it.
        
         | ggm wrote:
         | I'm close to retirement age. I'm advised by everyone I ask not
         | to just go "cold turkey", but find things to do which give
         | respect from others, and contribute to some activity. It could
         | be part-time work, or volunteering, but taking a role in an
         | activity which builds something, is better for your health.
         | It's probably a variant of CBT, taking behaviour which commands
         | respect engenders a sense of self-respect which lifts the
         | spirit. You have purpose.
         | 
         | Talking to unemployed people, who want to work, I also know
         | they say that the support systems in the state typically make
         | this really hard: you cannot commit to work without pay, if it
         | risks your status as unemployed, to recieve welfare. If you
         | have to go in to interview or for some welfare process, and
         | can't volunteer that day, a lot of agencies can't use you
         | because they can't rely on you. So, its a double trap: its
         | "safer" to do nothing, because you can't either let down the
         | people you want to do things with or, be denied welfare. Truly,
         | a trap.
         | 
         | So, if you don't have a risk here, I very much suggest you find
         | some thing to do, any thing, which contributes back to some
         | other endevour. Wash dishes in a local kindy. Hold newborn
         | babies in hospital whose parents can't be there. Help pack food
         | for people who are starving. Join a morning pick-up-litter
         | group.
         | 
         | I also know how tedious these suggestions are, how much they
         | hurt and irritate. When they were put to me in times past, I
         | "bit back" and told people not to be facetious or patronising.
         | I knew these things could be done, I didn't need to be "told".
         | I had to be driven out of a slump, taken in hand, and guided to
         | a better sense of my place in the world, so I don't say this as
         | "haven't walked there".
         | 
         | (I only say this because you strongly suggest your are aware
         | this situation is not improving your mental health, or making
         | you happy. To use an internet witticism or two, "you do you"
         | and "Im not the boss of you")
        
       | HenryKissinger wrote:
       | Nonsense.
        
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       (page generated 2021-09-09 23:00 UTC)