"How we spend our days is how we spend our lives." -Annie Dillard
Yesterday's writing prompt reminded my students and me to be mindful of the choices we make and the passage of time. In my own writing, I reflected on the practice of reading passages about spirituality and living in my daily life. This practice is something that I should do more often because the passages help to recenter me, emphasizing fleeting nature of time.
Many of my students wrote about how they like to be busy because they like to be productive. Others explained how high school forces them to live in a boring way. Comments included:
"I think about this (Dillard's quote) all the time. I think the time spent sleeping is a waste of time."
"My whole life is structured."
"I really dislike structured time. If I do the same thing over and over, I get claustrophobic."
"I am horrible at time management. I waste time by doing what is unnecessary."
"I like being structured so I can be productive, but I need a little time to myself everyday."
After listening to these refrains, I wondered- What do they consider as a waste of time? Is being productive always the preferred use of time?
I wrote:
Sometimes it is helpful for me to purposefully schedule unstructured time. It's like, if it is on my calendar, I use my unstructured time in a fulfilling way. Fulfillment does not necessarily need to productive, like getting a task done; rather, fulfillment can be achieved through the act of the task itself. Whereas, I feel productive when I complete tasks that I don't necessarily enjoy doing.
This was an interesting prompt because I think high school is a unique time in a person's life. When I look back at my planners and journals from high school, I notice how crammed my schedule was! I had something after school every day, events on the weekends, and tons of homework! I honestly don't know how high schoolers do it. That is not my life anymore. I think after high school, time starts to spread out as individuals have more freedom to create their own schedules.
In high school, I wrote this in my journal: "My mom told me today that time moves really fast through high school and college. And that things keep moving really fast until after you find the person you want to spend your life with and have children. Then it slows down."
For the most part, I think she is right.
