The Pressure of Time in Today's World

‘’You know what’s scary about this age? You can’t even enjoy your down time. You’re socially convinced that every moment you’re spending not doing anything is wasted time. That you always should be working towards something. We forget that it’s okay to have a breather and simply take time to yourself’’ 

I read this quote the other day while I was in the depth of my despair and I was fully swallowed by a dark cloud and it has been the case for a few weeks now. The age we live in, unfortunately, revolves around endless tasks and this sort of lifestyle or routine has managed to pile us with an extra amount of pressure and for some reason, we lost the true essence of actually living. Do you remember the last time you actually lived without having the pressure of unfinished tasks? I don’t think that you remember!  

In a way, Free time has become a tool or reason to make us feel guilty, we end up torturing ourselves for feeling down or upset. Instead of embracing our feelings, we ruin the day and end up feeling miserable about ourselves This age of technological revolution and social media made us aim for perfectionism when it doesn't exist.  

You scroll through Instagram, for example, and find many ‘’influencers’’ as they like to call themselves and you end up comparing your day and the things you did or still have to do with those people who have a totally different lifestyle. Comparison became embedded in so many people and it happens without us even realizing it.  

I found myself struggling to have a day off and I would just remember all of the things I have to do and how come I am not able to do them. I realized later that I was torturing myself for simply being a human and I forgot I was one. I was treating myself like a machine that has to do things continuously but even the machine needs maintenance every once in a while, to work better.  

The social pressure and also the rise of social media influencers made us shift away from the most important of all which is to always put ourselves first on our agenda. We worry too much about the paper we didn’t read or our next project in our job without realizing it’s us who do the work and we must take care of ourselves better to perform better. It is how it works!

Balance is key in this equation of life. Let’s praise free time or ‘’ me time’’ as I like to call it. Let’s just try to live our daily life the best way possible without running after the endless to-do list we have. Let's live life normally. Appreciate your feelings and understand them. Remember that we are human beings and you don’t have to meet anyone’s expectations. No one is perfect and you don’t have to show others that you are perfect and you got your things together when you can still feel down and tired. It is normal to feel so.

We are not in a race and we should walk through the journey of life while taking in all the good and the bad throughout it. It is okay if you felt down today and even tomorrow, it is okay if you didn't finish a certain task today and that you decided to go out for a change. You will regret it one day when you remember that you didn't live the way you should and you didn't care about your down time because you were worried way too much about the world and that everyone seemed perfect on what they did. It is your life and your pace, again, it is not a race.