Today is my day off. Well, it’s a day off for me, which means I still went to dance class because once you’re an adult who works at a desk it’s hard to keep in shape, and I have been cleaning the house a bit and filing papers, reading a book that’s background for an interview I’m doing in two weeks, but the rest of the day I have off to catch up on gardening and some work on one of the non-profit organizations I head, and relax and think. I even stopped by my mom’s house to be social with my parents and figure out what we’re doing tomorrow for Father’s Day. Nice to just hang out for a bit with them, with no big agenda. Don’t do that enough.
I’m a bit more of an over-achiever than most adults, but my point is, whether you’re a teen or an adult, you should value your time off and make the most of it. Most especially, you should appreciate it. When I was 15 I read 250 books a year in my spare time. Of course, I read all the time, even while walking to and from school, but now I look back on that wistfully, at all the time I had for purely recreational reading. And I think about how at the time I took it for granted.
These days, your average American spends 4-6 hours a day watching television and movies. I encourage you not to be average in this particular statistic. Spend less time passively absorbing things other people created and more time creating things yourself, whether those things are music, art, writing, new clothes, software programs, games, toys (cars and rockets count), clubs, good conversations, or even just your own self. I really mean that last one. That’s important. It takes work and creativity to create yourself, to figure out the particular ways you want to be in life, where you want to go, what you want to do, and who you want to do it with. Take time to get to know your friends, and take time by yourself to think and explore and get to know yourself.
Take time off, and really live that time. It’s one of the most valuable things you can do.