I have approximately 6 hours on average to spare in my daily work/life routine.
When I subtract all my work hours, commutes to and from places, chores like feeding and bathing myself, appointments, and sleep, I find I’ve got approximately 6 hours to do whatever I want to do. Unless some event or holiday intervenes, (and more often they take away time rather than award more of it), these 6 hours are not even that pleasant.
Thanks to our economy’s grind mentality, it’s hard to relax without stressing about all the things that need to get done, this is especially taxing when you’ve only got 6 hours to do all those things you’ve been putting off until you’ve got the spare time to do them. More often than not, I get to my moments reprieve and lay down. I need to nap, just to make it through the day and continue surviving whilst doing all the menial things capitalism demands of me.
Some of you, (namely my mother), may be wondering what else am I doing during that time, as I surely cannot nap for 6 hours daily. Which is true, more often than not I cannot nap 6 hours daily. The rest of those hours are spent on my phone, learning more and more how people my age and older use alcohol, drugs, social media, and other addicting activities to get their shots of dopamine before heading back to their miserable and demanding work life.
Also, I’ve been blessed with companionship in our dark and dreary world. They work just as hard as I, and when our schedules line up, I need to spend time with them. Not that this necessarily takes away from my free time, but a decent chunk of my free time must also be dedicated to taking care of the person I love. Not to mention, humans are complicated. Some days we come home just to cry and hold onto each other. I know I’ve spent hours sobbing uncontrollably in my partners embrace, stressing over our future and what we’ll never be able to feasibly afford or enjoy as we grow old together. Sometimes even wondering if we’ll ever have the opportunity to grow old at all.
As unhealthy as it sounds, my partner is my only friend, as the grind to survive has parted me from the friends I surrounded myself with whilst growing up. None of us have the time or money to make amends over petty things we fought over, and now we’re complete strangers. So all my spare time is spent on my one person I love, in total isolation with them. We often get upset when we realize we’ve no one else to talk to in our lives that are our age and understand what we’re going through.
That is the reality of my situation. These spare moments are often filled with anguish. These 6 hours are spent crying, they are spent buying and eating expensive food to reward my sick self. All the things I consume during these 6 hours come out of my paycheck, keeping me from saving even a morsel at the end of the week. Anytime I need to meet with family takes away from my sparse spare time. They ask questions like how are you? What have you been up to? And it’s the same answer every time. I’m okay, (this is a blatant lie), and I’ve just been working, (the truth of my situation).
It’s just sad to see, harder to explain. Only those who experience this can fathom the disservice we’re doing to our children, bringing them up in world were we’ve got neither time nor the energy to raise them. We’ve not been dealt bad hand, it feels as though I haven’t been dealt a hand at all. There are no plays I can make, I just exist here until I perish. My 6 hours fly right by me, and it feels like there was no spare time to begin with. These hours are not a break, they are a gap between tasks, and they are certainly not all they are played up to be in my head nor my folks head. Their condescending tones telling me I’ve had it easy, whilst ignoring all the new problems I’m facing in my day and age.
The truth is ignoring how I feel, and what issues I’m facing because they are not yours, then telling me I’ve had it easy or I’m lazy makes me very upset. Upset with not only you, but everyone who shares that opinion with you. It’s just wrong, blatantly wrong. It shows a complete disregard for anyone outside of your bubble. Selfishness with a pinch of narcissism isn’t going to suddenly give me more spare time, let alone make me feel better about my dreadful situation.
TL;DR: After arguing with my mother, I did the math and learned I’ve only 6 hours to spare on a daily average, and they’re not pleasant.