Free time and percentages

It's interesting to walk around and see what happens during the day on a weekday. I went to a daytime yoga class yesterday - I have never done that before. There's an entire other world that goes on while we are all in our offices.

Working can be isolating - I didn't realize how much time I spent at work until I didn't have to go anymore. Objectively I knew how long it was - the 25 or so minutes there, the 7.5 hours at work (plus an hour lunch), the 25 or so minutes home. It doesn't even sound that long! A day has 24 hours, and I spent 9 of them doing something office-related. It's only 37 percent of the day!

When you break it down more, you realize how much time that really is. Starting the day at midnight, I slept until 630am and would go to bed around 1030pm - 33% of the day spent on sleep. That leaves 7 hours for everything else (fun or actual adult stuff).

29% of a day. Technically, if we include the fact that my time from 630 to 7 was getting ready for work, that brings work up to 39.5% and free time down to 27%. My last job was 37.5 hours a week. Most people work for 40 which changes those percentages slightly in favor of work. Those numbers seem so skewed.

Having the entire time of the day when I'm not sleeping to do whatever I want to do is totally freeing. I can daytime grocery shop and have time to spend with my friends without errands in the evenings when everyone else is home. I can see friends who come in from out of town without worrying about how I am going to fit all of this in.

All this free time is also hard to deal with. This week, there have definitely been days where I don't really accomplish anything because I don't have a time frame in which I have to do them. I know that, no matter what time I wake up, I can spend all morning or afternoon getting things done. It almost feels like too much freedom sometimes.

I know that once I get back to the working world, I will have to deal with those percentages again. I hope that I don't waste those hours anymore.