No Such Thing as Free Time

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day, and the subject of free time came up. Actually, the term was merely mentioned, but it got me thinking. None of our time is really "free." We have an unfortunately limited supply of it, making the commodity extremely valuable. When a person survives a near-death experience, it is said that they are living on "borrowed time," but aren't we all? We will all die eventually, and most of us could have died some time ago, had fate frowned on us that day, so our time is actually very precious and not to be disposed of freely.

Our time is also valuable in the sense that it can only be used once. At any given moment, we can only be doing one thing. So, to choose to spend our time one way, we must choose to spend that time not doing anything else. Any use of time carries an opportunity cost. When we spend our time in any way, we give up the opportunity to have spent our time in any other way.

In general, I think we should be careful to use our "free time" wisely, but that doesn't mean that we need to work ourselves to the bone. Sometimes, resting is the most effective use of our time. Sometimes (and more rarely), seeking entertainment is. The goal is to find the right balance, which doesn't mean that we give each endeavour an equal amount of time but that we give each endeavour the amount of time it deserves.

We all have obligations to meet, and thus, some of our time is spoken for. We can consider the rest of our time "free" in the sense that we are free to choose what to do with that time. But time is a valuable resource, so it doesn't really make sense to label it as "free." Free time can actually be pretty costly, especially if we waste it or misuse it. Instead, we should consider all our time valuable and use it judiciously, even the portions of time other people might call "free."