Update to this post.
Since my previous post got more attention than I expected, I thought maybe the kind people who responded might want an update. It's been a few months since I've had a ton more time on my hands.
Here's what I said my goals were:
- "I don't plan on traveling much if at all." - Did a domestic trip. It was awesome. Plan to do more and already have some things lined up. This bullet is worth it even though it costs money.
- "I plan to do some volunteer work" - got back to my weekly volunteering. Will continue, as it's a great way to make sure I stay connected with my community. It's been a good source of positive feedback/reinforcement.
- "take a class" - Doing this. Love it. In addition to the volunteer work, classes force me to follow a schedule and find time to focus on things I don't necessarily feel like doing in the moment (like homework)
- "reach out to my network" - Check. Tends to get expensive, as we all gravitate towards "grabbing lunch to catch up."
- "reconnect with friends/family" - m'eh. Not doing this more than usual, but at least it's not dropping off.
- "Maybe even try to create some stuff" - really fell down on this one. Need to build the discipline to do this.
- "I want to stay mindful, deliberate and practice gratitude" - same as above. I've definitely been very happy and grateful, but I haven't built any sort of meditation or gratitude practice.
- I didn't mention another goal of spending a LOT more time in the outdoors. Didn't manage to do this because the weather was terrible this winter and I didn't build a good habit.
In addition, while I haven't made fitness a big priority, I am definitely eating a little healthier and exercising more than I had been. It's funny how much easier taking care of your health is when you aren't stressed all the time.
It's been four months and I haven't been bored or depressed AT ALL. I haven't had any problem putting on real clothes, getting out of the house, staying social. My worries that I'd turn into a basement-dwelling neckbeard who did nothing but eat Cheetos in front of Reddit and Netflix haven't turned into reality. (Obviously, it's only been a couple of months. I know it could be very different under other circumstances.)
On the other hand, staying productive (actually "productive", not just "busy") is a challenge.
My endless amount of free time will come to an end soon, and I have no regrets. I could do this for much, much longer. But if I did, I'd need to come up with and commit to projects I need to complete in order to give myself more goals to work towards. I have hobbies and commitments, but when you can do whatever/whenever it does get easy to just laze about without making progress (because "progress" isn't the goal).
Lessons: * Have a plan for what to do with down time * Be disciplined but flexible about what that looks like * Have fun! * Make sure your budget accurately reflects what your new life looks like and adjust accordingly
Submitted April 02, 2018 at 12:49PM by repf-throwawayaway https://ift.tt/2EbWqek
