What Would You Do If You Didn’t Have To Work?
Lottery tickets offer us the dream of escaping to a different life. Often I find myself wondering what it would be like if I didn’t have to work full time. I always imagine spending more time on my open source software projects, getting in better shape and doing some freelance consulting to pay the time.
About ten years ago I got to see my parents make the transition from working full-time to retirement. It wasn’t an easy switch for them. There was some sadness, a lack of motivation and a lonliness as they lost the human contact the workplace gave them each day.
For the past two months I’ve gotten to experience what it’s like not to work every day. I was laid off from my previous job with severance. While I money wasn’t tight, there wasn’t enough to jet set off to Europe or go on any big vacations other than the ones I already had planned for the summer. I was stressed out most of the time until I found myself a new job. After I accepted the job offer, I gave myself a big window until I had to start so that I could relax and enjoy my time off.
This was the longest stretch of time I had booked off; it has been 14 years since I’ve had that much time to myself all at once. When I was working, I imagined all the web projects I could do if I didn’t have to go to work. The reality of the experience was quite different. Once you have the freedom to do anything you want with your day, sitting in front of the computer is the last thing you want to do.
For the first few weeks I found myself irritated by 3pm every day. I quickly realized that it was the lack of structure; if I got myself out of the house the feeling went away. So time was spent walking around the city, going to the library and reading in coffee shops. The beautiful weather really helped. Why stay inside on a sunny day if you don’t have to? Part of it was a desire to be around real people, instead of the virtual people I usually associate with if I’m stuck on a computer.
There was a definite priority shift. With the freedom to do anything I wanted with my day, it made so much more sense to focus on those long term, important but not urgent goals. Organizing things around the house. Getting a new family doctor. Renewing my passport. Getting new contacts. Removing clutter from my house and my life. I had to laugh one day when I found an old to-do list from 2006. There was stuff on that list that was important to my life and my well being that I was finally getting around to.
I found it amazing how much clearer it was to process my task list and choose the most important tasks for the day. Because I felt no urgency in any of my tasks, I was able to make much better decisions about what was important vs what wasn’t even worth doing.
I’m about to enter the workforce again, and I hope I can take some of the clairity I currently feel with me.
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“What Would You Do If You Didn’t Have To Work?”
Tour with Gov’t Mule. And for those rare times when they’re not on the road, tour w/ The Allman Brothers, Umphrey’s McGee, Rose Hill Drive, Grace Potter, and any/every other band I like. Travel. Read, a lot (more than usual). Fish. Finally learn to code. Private Yoga lessons until I’m good enough to not feel like a retard in a regular class. Work with homeless shelters during the day before Gov’t Mule shows at night.
It never fails to amuse me when I here how people who retire lose their sense of direction. I took early retirement 14 months ago and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Not only can I do all the things I never had chance to do before, but I’ve managed to go abroad 3 times. My advice to anybody is to live for today and enjoy life to the full, because the alternative is not worth it.
I’ve been discovering what I’d do ever since I had an emergency operation in May and was diagnosed with cancer - haven’t worked since then. Money and health worries aside (ha!) it’s rather pleasant to just be able to do what I feel like doing and not have to be anywhere I don’t want to be (other than hospital visits). Though like you I also need some sort of structure to my day. Just ‘going with the flow’ is too directionless for me.
Activities (on ‘good days’ when I don’t feel sick) include taking walks, reading, blogging, cycling, going out for lunch (tapas blog material), talking with friends, watching films. I think if I wasn’t sick I’d be doing much the same things, though I’d probably end up doing some sort of work, even just as a hobby if I didn’t need the money. Probably something related to food and travel, so I’d also end up travelling a lot. And I’d also take courses in webpage design and Spanish.
Good luck with the new job!
oh man, wouldn’t i love to have some time like this! between blogging, writing & recording new music, two other nonfiction writing projects as well as a new book of poetry all in the works — DAYUM, i don’t think i’d have any trouble at ALL filling up my days with the things i love doing. you are absolutely right that some kind of schedule is needed, though. i work best under deadline, so i create deadlines for myself which is a huge help in getting things done.
Been in this situation for 11 months now. Work is spotty these days in my field. So I’ve gotten to know my library (great place) and the rest of my community, caught up on lots of books and movies people keep telling me to try out, and got in some blogging, too.
I think we’re under that Chinese curse about living in interesting times, so I’m finding my days are often too full even when I’m not working.
Excellent post.
Excellent post. i agreed with pollyanna. all right
Thank’s,good article! 5+
Yup! This a very good article. I thing if i don’t have a job, i have lots of work to do. i can earn money online. i will plan some holidays.
Great article… However, for some reason even when I don’t work, I have so many things on my mind that
not working makes me worried more then actually working… Does it make any sense ?
http://theanimeblizzard.com/
Structure is very important, especially for those working with no definite timeliness. If you do not have it you will end up doing what is not important and unbalanced.
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Excellent blog! To answer the question, do what I’m doing now:reading blogs and posting to my own. Good work.
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I have the same problem. But the difference is that I am a university student. I want to stop studying and start working.
i haven’t been laid off a job, but as a student school holidays used to bore me. i could go out, but i’d feel guilty for spending money that’s not exactly mine. it’ll be a different story if money wasn’t a problem!
it’s ingrained in us that we should be productive, so even if we’re not working we have to do something!