Searching for time:
scavenging for minutes each day ben rUskin a&e chief
Charles Harte
T
staff writer
ick tock, the clock strikes twelve, then one, then two, and so on, and still no free time to be found. High school can be a busy time, and people are not always able to adapt and find time for themselves. When we are younger, free time is taken for granted. Younger children wake up late, come home from school early, and enjoy all the free time they can find (which is a lot). The older students get, the less free time they have during the day. It seems as if it should be the other way around. With the stressful and rigorous courses high schools offer, shouldn’t older kids have more free time to relax their minds? “As I have gotten older, my free time level has decreased. When I do get some time to breathe and relax, almost always I find myself being stressed about future assignments, and then I end my free time and continue to work,” junior Max Weiss said. With the myriad of pressures and stresses that come from daily life, it can be difficult to find free time. A study done by Direct Line Insurance has found that the average human being needs seven hours a day of free time to be happy. This much time can be hard to find for a significant amount of people, as there is school to attend and other clubs and organizations to be a part of. Attaining seven hours of free time is nearly impossible, unless you choose not to sleep at night. “Each day I would say I have about thirty minutes of free time, between soccer, school, and other organizations that I am a part of. I would never be able to find seven
hours,” sophomore Josh Rosen said. There are still other ways to win free time back in your busy schedule. Some people have found that going through their workload, determining what is most important, and deciding what can be done on a later date is the most effective method. “When I get home from school I go through all of my assignments and check to see which ones are the assignments that are urgent and need to be done as soon as possible. This allows me to find a lot more free time during the day,” sophomore Drew Schneider said. Many people find that their only free time is on the weekends, and even then there are a lot of different activities to choose from. “Most of the free time I can find
is on the weekends, and I normally spend that time with friends or family. I wish I had more time during the week so that I would be able to relax,” sophomore Sydney Klein said. According to a report written by Future Foundation, 47 percent of time spent with loved ones is also spent using social media. If some people were to cut back a little bit on social media, it would most likely free up their schedule. Even though it may seem as if you never have any free time, do not panic. Sometimes just taking a deep breath and listening to some music for a couple minutes is all you need to relax and continue your work. Free time is scarce, but how it is spent is up to that individual.
Image by Ben Ruskin
How to find the time Disconnect: The internet can be a major disctraction. Disconnect and find more time later to relax. Say no sometimes: When you accept too many tasks at once, your schedule becomes cluttered and you never finish work.
Enjoy: Make sure you spend your free time doing what YOU want to do, not what others ask you to do.
Declutter: If you orgnaize your schedule, you will not be working non-stop, and you will find time to relax.
Source: zenhabits.net Image by Ben Ruskin
Q&A With Mr. Smanik Q: How much free time do you have on an average week day? A: None, I force myself to not do work for one hour during dinner. Q: What do you do during your free time? A: I spend time with my wife and eat dinner. Q: What mostly limits your free time? A: Ninety percent work and projects with colleges and textbook companies. Photo by Charles Harte
Q: What are you unable to do, due to lack of free time? A: I am not able to ride horses, spend time with my family, hike, hike, and hike.