Opinion Editor- Soph White

As a rehabilitated productivity machine, I now find myself asking the question of what to do when I have very little on my plate. As this may be relatable for other seniors, perhaps quite a few freshmen early into the school year coming out of highschool, or even other returning students who let go of many commitments, I thought it would be a good thought exercise to come up with some ways to fill the time and/or cope with the lack of activities.

Firstly, the solution is to not suddenly throw your life into chaos. I could involve myself in more activities, but that doesn’t quite fix the underlying issue. I need to find things that are okay for me to do by myself. When we all leave college, we can’t just join a bunch of clubs and societies with the same ease and busy ourselves with those tasks. Work or grad school take up a good chunk of the time, but what happens after that when we are left to our own devices? Laundry?

Whatever hobbies I once had, they seem so daunting even just to think about picking them up again. I could always consider trying out new ones, but they often result in a new monetary investment I cannot afford at the moment. Some things that have come to mind so far include: learning to knit again, going over the basics of the French language again, learning to speak Korean, learning to actually cook for myself, and going to the gym. These may come off as simple things most people can manage to do in their free time, and yet, it is not easy for everyone to commit to things that are meant to be useful and/or good for them. 

I’ve always been able to commit to helping others and organizations, but I have not mastered being able to commit to helping myself. I always feel like I should be doing something productive that shows my commitment to the things and people I care about. Often, it feels like one of the only things I can offer people. I don’t know how to show the emotion of compassion any other way than to offer something that would be productive for them. 

So, how does one deal with being alone with themselves? My response to this during my freshman year of college was to listen to ASMR and take long naps where I would go in and out of consciousness. Now, I understand that it was not benefitting my health and wellbeing. Naps are a good thing until you use it to deal with boredom. The goal with self-care is for it to actually increase your wellness, which often means that all things (including napping) should be done in moderation. You can exercise. You can walk in the arb. You can play your favorite video game, but overdoing any of these ruins the purpose of doing them in the first place. 

As a senior now, I think my goal is to start by working on skills that are useful to me but doing those things through baby steps. Genuinely, I have very little experience cooking. Sandwiches and cereal are my specialties. I know I really should learn how to cook chicken, so maybe that’ll be my next goal. Maybe I could really familiarize myself with a few casserole recipes, because it’s something simple but takes more skill than building myself a sandwich. 

Not everyone has a kitchen at this very moment, but you can work on something good for you incrementally. You can work towards a 5k or a half marathon in the span of 6 months to a year. If you’ve never really spent any time running, like me, you can work towards a 10 minute mile by starting by going in between walking and running till you can up the ante. For those who don’t like to exercise, you can make a goal of drawing people each day to perfect the human physique. I still can’t draw hands properly, but I likely could if I drew them once everyday.

Give it a go! Do something familiar. Do something new. Do something that will benefit you long term. Do something that will benefit you right now. The goal doesn’t have to be out-of-this-world crazy for you to accomplish something. The act of setting the goal means something in itself. You don’t need to do anything more than attempting the goal. I don’t think it makes you a chud if you can’t accomplish your goals. I think you become a chud once you stop trying to attempt to meet those goals in the first place. Remember that failure is normal, so let’s keep going and try to do something for ourselves for once, eh?