Lately, I've come to find that there are certain phrases that rub me the wrong way. One of those is "You have too much time on your hands." or the closely related "I wish I had as much free time as you do."
I get these, or variations of these, a lot, and to be totally honest, they really piss me off. EVERYONE has free time. How much you have varies based on your obligations. If you prioritize well, and don't waste time, you could probably free up enough to do just about anything you put your mind to. More often than not, people aren't nearly as busy as they want the world to think they are.
I am a crafter. It's a hobby of mine, as well as a way to make some additional income. I make time for it. Whether that means starting dinner a bit later some nights, or simply turning the television off, I make sure to work it into my schedule, because it is something that gives me pleasure.
So when I share a photo of a project I've done, and someone says "It must be nice to have so much free time." I get angry. I work 5 days a week, maintain a home, a happy marriage, and more. I MAKE time to do these things. If you choose to put your free time into something else, that is your choice. I don't comment on your gardening or trash TV posts and say "Gee, it must be nice to have so much time on your hands." Because I don't WANT to do those things, so I won't make time for them. But I will make time to do crafts, read books, take silly photos with my gnomes, or LEGOs, and write my blogs. It isn't that I have this plethora of time that I am just desperately trying to fill. I am choosing to use the free time I have to do things that make me smile. And many of the things that people make these comments about are things that took mere minutes of my day. Don't act as though you don't have a spare five minutes to do something. You probably spent longer than that just sitting on the toilet playing Candy Crush.
It is not your job to judge what someone else does with their free time. If you opt to go shopping, play video games, watch TV, take 2 hour baths, workout, etc. that is YOUR choice. Just because you use your time differently than someone else, does not make you better, cooler, busier, or more important than that person.
Whether that was your intention or not doesn't matter. Just stop saying it.
My time is no less valuable than yours, regardless of what silly project I choose to do with it.
Thank you. Rant over.
My time is no less valuable than yours, regardless of what silly project I choose to do with it.
Thank you. Rant over.
People say this to me a *lot*! It's frustrating, but I normally ask them if they watch any TV shows. When they say yes (I haven't met anyone who has said no yet!) I say, so do I, and I craft while I do so. I do actually craft at other times as well, but I've found this explanation helps people understand that we just chose to use our downtime slightly differently ~___^
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing. Though people often try to pretend that they don't watch as much as they do. But I hate the demeaning way people say it. It aggravates me to no end.
DeleteAlso, I love your blogs. You make the cutest stuff. I don't comment, but I read them all. Keep up the great work, doll! :-)