According to the great Google, free is (among other things) to be able to act or do as one wishes or without cost or payment. Free time, then, should be that period of time where you can do whatever you want with little regard to cost. However, cost, particularly to the multifaceted among us, cannot be ignored. As someone who enjoys pursuing many different things, there are inherent tradeoffs I make on a daily basis when I decide how to spend my free time.
Once my adult chores* are taken care of, every hour not spent at work is mine for filling with all of the things, people and activities I love. This, my dears, is the glory and selfishness of choosing to remain childless. I spend much of this time in the role of consumer or creator**. I am a pop culture and history fiend, and as such, curling up on the couch with a good book or settling into a dark theater for a movie or play recharges me. Articles and essays inspire and educate me. I take in. I consume, cramming my brain with more, more, more. This, however, leaves little time for creating things of my own, for turning the scraps of paper and ideas stored in the dark reaches of my brain into actual things. This is my tradeoff.
2012 was a very good year, but in this new year, I want to flip the equation. I'm not coming up with official resolutions, but my focus for 2013 is going to be on creation. Let's see what we can make happen!
*Cleaning, bill paying, errands, meal planning. What? You don't call them chores?
**There are also the roles of giver and doer, but I'm not going to address those, since I spend roughly 50 hours a week giving and doing at a nonprofit in exchange for a meager salary. Passion versus profit, my friend.
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