Free Time

LegacyUser

Hi All

So I recently finished college and have a job in my field. I commute to work on public transport which is disastrous and I'm often not home till late evening meaning I don't have a lot of free time. However, I don't work weekends and can find them awfully difficult to fill up. I will volunteer occasionally or go to once off special events and shopping or go for a long walk but I find that doesn't really fill the time. Most of my friends have moved away so meeting up with people rarely happens. It's just an unusual finding for me. I used to spend any spare time I had studying or writing essays or working part time while I studied. I don't have those things hanging over me anymore but I feel like I'm wasting time, wasting my life away not really doing anything productive. I go to classes midweek as a hobby. But my weekends are "too" free. What can I do?

bottlebrush

you say you go for long walks in the evening so how about hiking/hillwalking at the weekends. there will be a lot of walking festivals kicking off shortly for the summer. these are usually pay as you go so if you don't like it you are not committed.

5uspect

If you’re into physical activity and your stuck on public transport maybe consider cycling to work.
It can be a considerably faster way to get where you want to go compared to sitting in traffic. It’s very handy when you’ve shower facilities available at work.

I can cycle to work in half the time the bus takes.

As for weekends, there’s nothing wrong with doing absolutely nothing. But there’s a lot of different hobbies you could take up. Get an allotment and grow your own fruit and veg, it can eat up your entire weekend and is very rewarding.

Xterminator

Hi Op

Its great that you volunteer, fair play. You could certainly look at something with more regular hours there.

But i would ask you have you considered making a startup business of your own? IE a little side action - not for the money primarly, but for the challenge, and the social aspect.

baby and crumble

It can be a big adjustment going from having college work hanging over you all the time. If you can, try and adjust to having time you don't have to 'fill' - right now you've still got the guilt; that you SHOULD be doing something. We all have to have unproductive chilled out time. Don't just try and fill all your time with activities. Or at least, not all your activities have to be productive - they might just be enjoyable for their own merits.

learn to cook and cook!

catch up on tv series and books that youve missed out on. nothing wrong with entertaining your brain and theres a lot of great stuff out there

Leaseissues

Could you travel around Ireland on the weekends a bit to see places you haven't seen before ? Or look up google flight and see if there is a cheap ryanair flight to somewhere that you could go and explore.

I go to gigs a good bit during the week / at weekends and it can be a good buzz

TV shows are always good for eating into chunks of time as well.

Could you try taking up a class on something you think you might enjoy so you could spend sometime at the weekend reading up on it / getting better at ?