Free Time: How Much is Enough and How Much is Too Much?
Science can help you identify the free time sweet spot.
“Be careful what you wish for,” says a classic warning. I’m currently learning that bit of wisdom, and the lesson is surprising.
As a busy general surgeon, I have worked more than my share of long days — and nights. I often wish I had more free time to spend with my family, read, write, exercise, and curate a hobby. On my worst days, I envied patients confined to their rooms and, in my overworked and exhausted opinion, blessed with an abundance of free time.
More Free Time May Not be as Good as You Expect
Well, I recently got my wish, thankfully not as a hospital patient, but as a guest of New Zealand’s Managed Isolation and Quarantine system. For two weeks, my family and I are confined to what my son refers to as our “Five star, maximum security penthouse.” Thanks to COVID, we will spend a fortnight confined to a hotel room. And that means we find ourselves blessed with a whole lot of free time.
It has not been the blessing I had hoped. I arrived with aspirations to write an article a day and maybe more and read my way through a stack of books that have been piling up. I also hoped to connect with my family and learn to draw…
