The Perils and Protections of Downtime

So, I have a routine most days.  This is not a function of laziness.  Rather, I've adopted routines and habits in life as a means to creating shortcuts in conscious thinking.  Routine activities/habits are no longer taking up what little bandwidth my conscious brain has.  Consequently, I have more bandwidth left over to focus on things that require actual thought (e.g. how do I teach my son and daughter this or that principle of good living?, etc.).

My routine for a while had been: wake up, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, hug and kiss my wife and kids before I left for work, get on the metro, same car, same seat, ride it to work, work, come home, change clothes, eat dinner, clean up around the house a little, play with/tuck the kids into bed, take care of a few other "must-do" chores, then ... veg.  Watch Top Gear, or something, for the rest of the night because I was tired.  Depending on my mood, I might binge-read a book, or something.  But, I would just stop. Stop thinking, stop doing, and just veg.

About the time I noticed that I really wasn't doing anything productive with my evening downtime (and this realization started preying on my mind), a friend of mine posted something on his Facebook page noting that he was going to take up a musical instrument as a way to do something productive with his evening time.  So, I felt I was not alone in this.

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Now, I'd like to pause, here, and indicate that I truly and wholeheartedly believe in the importance of a type of downtime - but not vegging.  Rather, the type of downtime that involves quieting my mind, meditating, praying, etc.  I think everyone needs this in order to achieve some sort of psychological/spiritual balance in life.  Each person is different, so each person probably needs more or less time to satisfy this need.  But it is a need.  I don't need a lot of this time, but I do need it.  

Sometimes, if I pay close enough attention to my...what's the right word...spirit, I can sense that need.  And I can fill that need, thankfully, in any number of ways.  More often than not, it is satisfied by personal prayer.  But not routine prayers like over a meal, or bedtime prayers, etc.  I find that I can really quiet my mind and commune with God most effectively outside those "routine" occasions.  Other times, it's not prayer, in the conventional sense, but still something akin to meditation: while on a bike ride, straddling a surfboard waiting for a wave, or on a drive while running errands (by myself).  My eyes are open, my subconscious mind is working, my body is active, by my conscious mind is somewhere else doing something else.  It's working something out, being tremendously productive.  To what end, I'm not sure.  But I'm invigorated afterward, anyway.  Recharged, somehow.  Perhaps that's why I say surfing helps me "refuel my stoke."

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So that was a tangent.  Back to getting to my point.  So, I had a routine that included vegging at night after the kids went down.  Something deep within me did not like my vegging.  But I didn't know what to do about it.

Then, the pool opened up across the street.  Nice lap swimming pool.  I started going down there after the kids went to sleep.  And it charged my stoke.  Doing laps had never really done it for me like that before, but for some reason it began to.  I'm helping a few folks improve their swim strokes while down there, too - which is super fun and fulfilling.  Starting laps also corresponded with taking on some volunteer work with my church in a more time/mind consuming way than I have in recent memory.  I joke with my wife that it feels a bit like another full-time job.

Now, my routine has changed from tucking the kids in and vegging, to tucking the kids in and swimming laps, helping some folks swim better, showering the chlorine off, and doing volunteer work late into the night.  I should be tired from this, but I'm stoked instead!

I find I have more physical energy.  I find that my mind is more active, more productive, more satisfied.  I'm happier.

The perils of downtime is that there are two types that are easily confused: one is like a drug that rots your soul (vegging) and the other is spiritual food that invigorates your whole being (quiet time).  When I wasn't paying close attention, I lost the distinction between the two.  Quite time is productive, healthy, and necessary.  However, it is easily confused with, and evolved into, vegging.  I find, contrary to natural instinct, that by being more actively engaged in worthwhile activities, I'm actually more energized.

Don't confuse the two.