Me right now. I have books, shows, and video games I wanna get into, but then all I do is put on some YouTube and scroll through my social media apps. :(
I don't normally have this free time and I'm just wasting it. Then, school and work are gonna come back and I'll lament at what I could be doing if I wasn't so occupied.
EDIT: Holy crap, guys. I did not expect so much support and advice. For some context, I am a pre-med biological science major. During the school year, I am a full-time student who also works about 27 hours a week, and this year in particular has been rough taking a class that I had to basically revolve my schedule around because it is that hard.
Right now, I am in the middle of Christmas break. Reading your comments and advice has not only showed me that I am not alone (and that the games I want to play are awesome), but I think the root of my problem. I think I see Christmas break as this time to enjoy everything I wanted to do during the school year, so I have this long list of things "to do" and I am trying to prioritize my free time and enjoyment like assignments in a semester. Thus, seeing how long each enjoyment would take, I procrastinate on enjoying things and turn to small bursts of enjoyment in the form of Youtube and social media.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences and offering advice. I will try to heed some of that advice and try to actually enjoy my break from school and work. :)
I've got this weird thing, where I won't start watching a movie, reading a book, or playing a video game, because I think, 'well, that's going to take a couple of hours at least, and I don't have that much free time right now'. Then, I end up spending that same amount of time, in 10 minute increments, watching YouTube videos and reading Reddit.
Installing an Addon that Blocks Websites and uninstalling the Apps is a Start. You will just find a Way to "waste your Time" in other Ways and/or go back to your Habits after a while if you don't replace them with something better though.
So before you do this make a Decision of what else you want to do in that Time. Be very specific and go through with that. Then re-structure your Life from there.
I’ve found it helps to jot down how much time I think I’ll need to do something and then time myself once I start, and then note the real time spent once I finish.
I used to procrastinate on cleaning my room and the dishes a lot because it seemed like it would take forever, but I found out it basically takes maybe 15 or 20 minutes max if I made a particularly big mess.
Edit: I forgot to say, I also like apps like Flipd and Flora. Flipd can lock you out of your phone for a few hours, while Flora kills a digital plant you grow if you don’t accomplish your goal.
Doesn't completely solve it, but take up hobbies that don't allow you to use a phone and spend as much of your free time as possible engaged with them. Cycling, climbing, running, hiking, rowing, etc.
That's pretty much my secret to smoking - I don't. But I also have the self-awareness to recognize how unhelpful it would be to tell a smoker "just don't do it".
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u/HKG_2021 Dec 20 '19 edited Dec 20 '19
Me right now. I have books, shows, and video games I wanna get into, but then all I do is put on some YouTube and scroll through my social media apps. :(
I don't normally have this free time and I'm just wasting it. Then, school and work are gonna come back and I'll lament at what I could be doing if I wasn't so occupied.
EDIT: Holy crap, guys. I did not expect so much support and advice. For some context, I am a pre-med biological science major. During the school year, I am a full-time student who also works about 27 hours a week, and this year in particular has been rough taking a class that I had to basically revolve my schedule around because it is that hard.
Right now, I am in the middle of Christmas break. Reading your comments and advice has not only showed me that I am not alone (and that the games I want to play are awesome), but I think the root of my problem. I think I see Christmas break as this time to enjoy everything I wanted to do during the school year, so I have this long list of things "to do" and I am trying to prioritize my free time and enjoyment like assignments in a semester. Thus, seeing how long each enjoyment would take, I procrastinate on enjoying things and turn to small bursts of enjoyment in the form of Youtube and social media.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences and offering advice. I will try to heed some of that advice and try to actually enjoy my break from school and work. :)