What do you do with free time?

It's no secret that for the past four or five years, I've almost completely eliminated free time from my lifestyle.  Of course I was working full time, but in the past five years I've also done an 18-class masters degree, helped start and run Ndoto for a couple years, helped start nonprofits in Ethiopia and Peru, dated, gotten engaged, and married, started playing softball regularly, volunteered for 12 weeks in South America, and tried to maintain some sense of relationships, at least with family.  Basically, "unscheduled" time has been something that happened only every few weeks.  I have no regrets over how I've spent my time, but there is one unfortunate consequence.

I'm not really sure what to do with myself when I'm not "working."

I realize that there's something dangerously wrong with me when I decide to take an evening off from work and then can't think of anything to do other than slouch on our sofa in front of the TV.  I suspect that, if calculated, I would be found to spend at least 75% of my waking hours in immediate contact with some sort of digital display, whether a computer, a TV, or my phone.  Most of my relaxation time is dependent on digital screens too, including TV, movies, and games.  How did I get so dependent on a technology that is so new, in historical terms?  For all of human history, how did we survive without these digital devices?

It's tongue-in-cheek, of course, because humans seemed to get along just fine doing all sorts of things, like "going outside," as I think it's called.  I hear that once upon a time, people actually sat together and didn't do much of anything, except perhaps talk.  It's rumored that there was a time when families played games together (before the Wii).  A few people had these things called hobbies.  But for the most part, people lived dreadfully boring lives when there wasn't instant digital entertainment at their fingertips.  Glad I live today.

This summer, I finish my grad school, and I have to say I have had a bit of fear regarding not having schoolwork to occupy large chunks of my evenings and weekends.  What, oh what, will I do?  I'd like to give my eyes a rest from digital screens for a while, so I'm starting some controls now to keep me from going down that road.  I've already started trying to drastically limit my use of a phone prior to breakfast and after 10pm.  It helps me get in bed faster and up sooner and probably helps my sleep quality.  I'm also thinking of giving my brain a rest from all that thinking, and working with my hands a bit.  Simple carpentry and gardening sound very pleasant to me.  And, I think I'll work on rebuilding those relationships I've let slide in several years of constant working.

Of course, if/when we end up having kids, that'll all change, but maybe I'll just get them addicted to digital displays from a young age so I can continue with my gardening.