I love it when I get a snow day. I like the thought of being free of responsibility, of having the whole day to myself. The only problem with a snow day is that eventually, I get bored with doing nothing. I want to do something productive, but on a snow day, sometimes it feels like there isn’t anything productive to do. At the end of the day on a snow day, I enjoyed it, but I didn’t really do anything that was worthwhile.
Snow days will forever be one of my favorite kind of days. I love it when the phone rings in the morning, or the night before, and that mechanical voice kindly tells us that school is canceled for the day. The feeling of elation I get afterwards is one that can’t be put easily into words. I feel like I can breathe a little easier, knowing that I have a whole day to relax and enjoy myself.
However, you can only go so long wasting your time on Youtube before you start to feel restless. I don’t mind wasting my time. As I’ve stated in previous articles, time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. It isn’t that I don’t like relaxing and doing nothing. The problem is that after a while, my brain starts supplying me with all these things that I need to be doing. Homework, chores, studying, piano, or my article are all things that my brain screeches at me to get done on a snow day. It’s on these days that I wish I could just give myself a break.
On the other hand, there are some days where I really don’t have anything that I need to be doing. That, or I don’t have the necessary materials to complete the task. On these days, I’m happy to do nothing, and just read and listen to music all day, but I have this nagging feeling that I should be doing something. I feel like I can’t truly enjoy myself, because I’m constantly subconsciously searching for things that I need to get done.
Sometimes, I just have to accept that I might not get things done. I have to accept that I might just have a day where at the end of the day, my greatest achievement was relaxing and being happy. Maybe a purpose isn’t just for academic or work related things or goals. Maybe, occasionally, our purpose can just be to feel content. I think that’s something I can be okay with.
It’s important to have a purpose in life. If we aimlessly wandered through life with no goals, we wouldn’t end up anywhere. We need that push, that small light at the end of the tunnel that keeps us going. I know that if I didn’t give myself goals, I wouldn’t want to do anything. But, on the flip side, we can’t give ourselves a purpose that is too strenuous. We can’t expect ourselves to complete everything, and never have any downtime. Remember to relax on those precious days that you get the opportunity. And, remember that sometimes, our purpose is just to be happy. See you next week!
“Reprinted from Hagel Publications, Inc. dba as Courier Newspapers”