Why is There Never Enough Time?
In constantly striving for the next best thing, we're watching our lives pass us by.
This is the philosophical underpinning of all our modern stress: that time is too valuable to waste. We don’t pass time, we spend it. It’s no wonder that we don’t really have pastimes anymore." - Celeste Headlee, Do Nothing
Why does it feel like we never have enough time? Why do we (hopefully) only work 8 hours a day, but still feel like our lives revolve around our job? Why are we endlessly searching for ways to improve ourselves and our lives, but it never seems like we actually get anywhere?
These were all questions that have plagued me since I began working a typical, full-time office job (even though I worked close to 40 hours a week at my college job on top of classes, the varying hours, relaxed atmosphere, and fun socializing made it a lot more bearable). These questions, and more, were posed and pondered in Celeste Headlee’s book, Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving. Although I’ve never considered myself a workaholic, as I promptly leave my desk at 4:00 PM, silence email notifications in the evening, and never go over my required 40 hours, I could relate many of the issues that Headlee brings up in this book. The truth is, no matter how much we’re working, it seems we all feel like we’re short on time.
Despite the fact that I have no children, no house or property to take care of, and no significant external responsibilities outside of paying my bills and keeping my pets alive, I never feel as though there’s enough time in my day. Once work is finished, there’s an array of daily tasks that must be completed: making the bed, washing dishes (I’m quite envious of those who own a dishwasher), sweeping the floor, taking the dog out and scooping kitty litter, cleaning and replacing pet bowls, chopping vegetables, cooking dinner, wiping countertops… etc. I’m fortunate to have a partner to split these tasks with, but even then, even if you do finish all these tasks and have time left over, there’s always more to do.
It’s been ingrained in us since birth that we need to be productive. Why am I going to lounge around and play with my cat when I could be scrubbing the shower, learning a new language, planning tomorrow’s dinner? Why would I sit outside for half an hour and enjoy the sunshine when I could be getting a head start on tomorrow’s task list? When did we stop prioritizing actually enjoying the life we work so hard to create and instead spend our lives constantly running after the next thing?
As a society, we’ve created workplaces and work structures that are not beneficial to humans. We sit in cramped cubicles in buildings that don’t have windows, slouch over a computer screen for eight hours straight, and then by the time we get home at night, finally kick off our shoes and sink into the couch, it’s almost time to start getting ready to do it all again tomorrow. Capitalism and the thirst for constant growth has molded us into non-stop productivity machines, and we’ve taken that and applied it to our home lives, as well.
Humans are not meant to work, at least in the sense that most of us understand as work today. We are meant to provide for our basic survival, use our unique ability to communicate through language by socializing with one another and establishing close-knit groups and communities, and spend the rest of our time doing nothing, being creative, and exploring.
In the age of social media, we’re constantly comparing ourselves to what our friends and acquaintances are doing, and how successful they are. People my age feel as though we need to be at the top before we’ve barely even started. We have no grace for ourselves, no ability to allow ourselves to make mistakes or “waste” time. And it doesn’t help that our parents, who most likely spent their own twenties couch surfing, working low paying jobs, and partying, amplify that pressure we put on ourselves by constantly asking us what our next career move is, what our five-year plan is, and steering us away from any choices that might set us “off path” (even though those experiences may be invaluable to our growth and happiness).
We feel like we never have enough time because we’re spending the bulk of it obsessing over the future and planning our next moves. If you sit down and think about it, you’re probably spending very little time actually enjoying what’s happening in front of you. Unproductive time feels like wasted time. When is the last time you sat outside on a beautiful night, no TV on, no podcast playing in your ears, no cell phone, and just breathed deeply and enjoyed the now? Most of us feel unsatisfied or unfulfilled in our current state — we feel like there isn’t much around us to enjoy and that once we achieve the next thing or get the next promotion or move to a new place, we’ll finally have the time to relax and enjoy our lives. The cycle we get caught up in is that we never allow ourselves to feel satisfied. We’re always pushing for the next best thing, and while we’re doing that, the little moments of our lives are passing us by.
I do want to point out that in her book, Headlee fails to focus on the significant external causes that can make “doing nothing” impossible in today’s America: capitalism, job insecurity, low wages, healthcare that is tied to employment, crushing debt, and more. These factors make it so that we need to use all 24 hours in our day productively or else we may not be able to afford to survive. Ultimately, we’re going to need an entire overhaul of our current system in order to feel any real relief from the challenges of overworking and productivity culture. However, just being aware of our tendencies to overwork and put immense pressure on ourselves can serve as a reminder to yourself to come back to your true purpose whenever you see your life slipping away from you. Remember that we’ve got a limited time here on earth, and as much as we can, we should be spending that time enjoying the now, nurturing relationships, and exploring ourselves and this planet. Ultimately and above all, if you’re fortunate enough to be able to do so, try your best to make only the decisions and choices that will benefit you and enrich your life.
I highly recommend reading “Do Nothing” by Celeste Headlee (I read it for free on Libby!). Although many critics of the book say that the information she provides isn’t new or particularly groundbreaking, I do think there’s value in reading about something a part of you already knows, but hearing it from another person. It can help to validate the thoughts and feelings that we have, remind us that we’re not alone in experiencing these difficulties, and show us that what we’ve begun to accept as normal and unchanging may not be as set in stone as we think.