I'm (only) 23 and I've felt this for a while. I've been trying to leave my small no-name company for a higher calibre job in NYC for a few months now. I guess I'm lucky because I know what I want - but I need to wade through extreme amounts of bullshit to get there. I'm very efficient with my time but if I made every second worthwhile, I'd go nuts. Sometimes BS time (videogames, the pub, etc) are necessary.
> I'm very efficient with my time but if I made every second worthwhile, I'd go nuts. Sometimes BS time (videogames, the pub, etc) are necessary.
Be careful with equating "unproductive" and bullshit. Society at large only cares about your productivity, and there is always pressure for you to do "productive" thing that advances some imaginary life ladder.
From your POV and benefits, all those productive things might all be bullshit.
Yeah. I don't consider playing video games for an hour or so to wind down "bullshit", provided they do not stop me from achieving my daily goals.
Not only are "unproductive" activities like film, video games, socializing/hanging out very enjoyable for me, but the most interesting people I've met do a lot of them. All in moderation.
A few years ago I finished my studies and became a freelancer. It took me until this year to realize that in the effort to 'value' my hours, I forgot how essential and valuable it is to spend time doing things that are relaxing and that might seem unproductive at first sight.
It reached a point where I would often work in the weekends, forego any vacation, feel guilty about the hours I did 'nothing' (out of sheer necessity), and sometimes even apply a little too much pragmatism to my friendships. I'd ask myself if the interactions were useful or somehow furthered my personal development or career, and forget that, while this is not an unimportant question, the value of a friendship can be the time spent enjoying each other's company.
This important realization came after I had worked a lot, built a relatively stable career with enough clients and a good portfolio, saved up enough money to allow me to not work for at least a year. I had reached my goals, so to speak.
But instead of stopping work and doing things I always put off, or creating things I'd been wanting to create for a long time, I ended up with a (mild) burn-out and a severe existential crisis: now that I had nothing to really worry about, I had no clue what to do with that freedom.
What am I, and what do I enjoy doing, after years of neglecting to explore this?
Currently I'm working on finding more balance, and savoring the little and big things in life. But even now, I need to make sure I have some work because when I stop, my mind just kind of panics from the freedom I have. So I'm taking it one step at a time.
Picking up gaming again has been one of those things I savor again.
