Beware the Disease of Idle Time
Humans are designed to work. Human existence is a history of constructive and destructive endeavours, whether it be cultivating our homes, building empires, or perhaps seeking to destroy the empires our ‘enemies’ have built. Regardless of what it may be, humanity was cut out for ‘doing things’.
It comes as no surprise that we suffer immensely when we let too much idle time creep into our lives. We start to feel purposeless. Our compass no longer points in true north and we become unsure of how to progress with our lives. We come despondent, lonely and disconnected from our true essence.
As Benjamin Franklin highlights:
“It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.”
In short, beware the disease of idle time. Too much idle time breeds misery and eventually insanity. Get up. Get busy. Do things. It’s as simple as that.
How, then, do you fill your time?
Fill your time with constructive activities, ones that seek to progress the human race physically, spiritually and emotionally. Do not fill your idle time with destructive pursuits. Do not sedate yourself with alcohol, drugs, social media or other harmful addictions. Extend your mind. Even better, help others extend their own minds in the pursuit of more knowledge and wisdom.
As Thomas Jefferson commands:
“Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”
Keep ‘doing’. Keep learning. After then, you’ll begin to catch a glimpse of how much progress you can make on any worthy cause.
Now this of course is not to suggest that we should work ourselves to exhaustion. All work must be sustainable for life is a marathon and not a sprint. Take a break when needed, but never stop completely.
BEWARE THE DISEASE OF IDLE TIME.
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We have never been so materially prosperous yet spiritually bankrupt. We see this everywhere: Ethnic conflict, egotistical behaviour, the complete abnegation of personal responsibility. It is hardly controversial to say that we have forgotten how to live well.
How can we be good people? How can we live a ‘good life’? What is a good life?
These are the questions I shall be answering in my next five letters 'on life'. This is the last of five letters to come on this topic.
Be sure to drop a comment below! I'd love to know what you think... or if my view on things is wrong.
