( A thought during the time of quarantine)
Huh?! It’s almost evening! You jump from the soft and snug comfort of your bed shocked. You just woke up a few minutes ago! You are amazed at how time can pass when you stare at your phone ogling at oppas on Netflix or simply stalking someone on Facebook. And here you are, on quarantine because of the global pandemic that’s ravaging the entire planet. With all that time to spare, you can just binge-watch on Netflix or if you are in the poorer category like me, read stories of Pimans of Baguio or Artekdotes on free data on Facebook. What a time to spend!
However, two weeks have passed since the start of the quarantine and you feel guilty with all those “wasted time” (insert Keith Urban). There is always that feeling, no matter how small, that eats you little by little until you can feel the itch. This hole that grows larger every day as you spend them nonchalantly sitting..sleeping…eating….being unproductive. You don’t like this feeling, this atmosphere that hangs in the air. This sensation that slowly gnaws at you. At first unnoticed but now starting to make itself known. In short, naguguilty ka na sa katamaran mo at bored na bored ka na sa bahay niyo.
But why? Why does free time at home lounging the day away seemed to be so attractive when we are outside our abode working, studying, doing things we normally do. We would often say! Hay, sana sa bahay nalang ako! But now that we have the time to spend inside our homes, we look for methods to pass the boredom. The outside is not so bad after all! We Tiktok the day away as we test our biceps furiously whipping the Dalgona coffee. But still, we feel like time has been wasted and lost, days seem to be the same. We are starting to forget which day it is today. The days just become, day and night. Day and night.
So why on earth do we do what we do?
1. WE ARE NOT TRAINED TO MAKE THE MOST OF OUR TIME
Sabi nila sa school, time management daw. Have they ever taught you how to manage your time? I never had a class that taught me a deeper understanding of time management. If time management is a class taught in every school, we would have an idea of how the heck it is in the first place. According to J. Akins in his article “20 LIFE SKILLS NOT TAUGHT IN SCHOOL” in the website successfulstudent.org, time management is one of the life skills that schools neglect to teach. This one vital life skill will be primarily useful as we navigate our life path. Sa panahon ng quarantine, time management para maging productive!
2. WE DON’T TRAIN OURSELVES TO MAKE THE MOST OF OUR TIME
If the system doesn’t teach us such skills, we can teach ourselves instead! Do we do that? Some people do, most of us don’t! It is so much easier to wake up in quarantine and not think about anything. Don’t plan anything, don’t even think, just breathe and be happy. I love doing this but at the end of the day, it leaves me feeling unfulfilled. Awan manenen naaramid kon ti maysa aldaw, na apo aya. It’s because I don’t even try to make my day productive and when it’s done, I moped around feeling guilty. As our beloved mothers always say, ibangon mo ta aggaraw garaw ka gamin! Naka adadu maaramid ket! So it’s best we plan our day ahead. Make a mental note, write it down somewhere you can see it. Ilistam adi, kasla nga day utang mo ijay store, nakalista! Make a checklist and accomplish it, at the end of the day you feel productive and your mom much happier.
3. TECHNOLOGY IS A FRENEMY
Phones waste a lot of our time. It is a fact that we can access almost anything and so we choose ANYTHING. And WHAAA, who cares about TED Talks or School of Life, when you can watch the latest CHIKA or you read about love stories that entertain you? It’s not bad to entertain yourself, but they usually say use your time and your resources to enrich your mind. The phone is a powerful tool to learn and enrich our minds, but it is as powerful in taking our time and spending it uselessly. As you choose your friends wisely, choose the contents you get on your phone wisely too!
4. WE DON’T HAVE MANY ENRICHING HOBBIES OR ANY OF IT
Hobby’k? Hobby’k ti agbuya ti showbiz chika ken agbasa love stories. They are entertaining hobbies to past time. But that’s mostly what you get: you are entertained and you spend time. Don’t worry I was guilty of the same act. I loved reading fiction books and it isn’t bad to love them. You get to appreciate writing styles, stories and writers. However, as time passed I wished I had spent the time reading non-fiction books as well. They are so much more about life and society. They teach about life skills, negotiations, communications, finances, business, the past and the possible future….time management. Haa! The point is if you choose to spend time on something/someone make sure that it is time worth spending. A time where you grow as a person, you learn, you are productive and useful.
5. BEING LAZY IS SO MUCH EASIER
This is related to #1 and #2. We are not trained and we don’t train ourselves to make the most of our time because being lazy is so much easier! It is such a hassle to bring our mind to something productive and it takes a lot of effort and time to do this and that. Let me quote some cliches that have always been truth to me: “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.-Napoleon Hill”. “If you can dream it, you can do it.”- Walt Disney
Convince your mind a bit, go out of your lazy box, be productive. Have faith in your abilities to be better. Take a free online class if you can. Read an inspirational book, write one. Find a part-time hustle. Plant a garden if you have space. Exercise, buff up. Use this time to be the better you. Emerge a better person after the quarantine. Most of all, stay safe!
A Millennial's Journey 