How Do you Spend your Time?

Many people around the world can always find something to do with their free time; this thing is called a hobby. This differentiates us from other animals, the need for something fun, interesting, or satisfying to do with our free time. Unfortunately, a lot of people sit around and do nothing productive: “...the top three activities in Americans’ daily lives are working, sleeping, and watching television,” according to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This just shows that most people waste away their free time watching T.V.

After this is all being said, many people have tried to find a hobby, but with this current pandemic, it is quite a bit harder to find something to take up your time. According to some students I talked to, some of the biggest losses are that “I can't chill with my friends that much,” as Morgan Jacquin said; and Omar Alsolaiman said, “I think the scope of friendships and what they look like has changed.” These are just two examples of some things that people do that were stripped away or cut back when the pandemic hit. Now, it is more important than ever to find something to do because at the moment it is the safest option to spend time by ourselves. This brings us to the importance of finding a hobby during these times.

Some examples to help you get started are reading, working out, yoga, arts and crafts, meditation, and learning an instrument. Almost everyone has come up with a coping method for these hard times. After interviews with two classmates, they both said they found something to do: “I have I been drawing a lot more,” said Izzy Rust, a freshman. Another hobby from Evan Jahn, a sophomore: “I have been doing a lot of photography, and I have been road biking a lot more.” As you can see, people will always find a way; this is the same for my little sister. She has been picking apples from our apple tree that resides in our backyard. Once we all had to quarantine, we have been expanding our backyard garden, a fun pastime that we can collect produce from. In the pictures shown above, my little sister is picking apples to give to our neighbors, also above. This is what she has to say about her new and old hobbies: “Well I had a few hobbies from before… but they all included large groups of people… now I just like so stay alone.” This quote once again ties back into the safety of being alone and not with other people. The next line is a very impactful one, and that I think we can all relate to with our families being at home most of the time; “well, it brings me closer to some people and farther away from others,” said Eliana Jansen, a 7th grader.

This is just one example of many hobbies that people have picked up during these times and how people want to be part of something bigger than themselves through their hobbies. These circles of kindness keep repeating until everyone is satisfied. And hopefully, they can all be as fun, enjoyable, and caring as the apple picking hobby.