Unoccupied time is a scarcity that remains unwritten in my weekly planner. Free time is often marketed as the time you have to do a hobby, start a craft, clean your room, see a friend, do a workout, pick up a book, play pickleball, grab a coffee, throw away rotting food in the fridge and so on. Some of those things should be implemented into general tidiness, but unoccupied time is a scarcity that remains unwritten in my weekly planner.
March to me has always been a challenge, a series of trying to reinvent the time I had last month but somehow transform it. More weeks in a month should mean more time? Does that mean that March is the month of boredom? What is free time? Is March winter or spring? Why does it feel so long? What should I do? So many questions, good thing I have time!
Let’s break down each question:
More weeks in a month should mean more time?
Technically yes, but then the schedule overloads and boom you suddenly have every week and weekend booked. This March starts off with a trip to Boston with my partner Theo to visit my friend Taylor. Taylor and I met when we were randomly chosen to share an apartment with 5 others in Florence Italy during our travel abroad semester. We laughed that even though I’ve been in Maine since that trip and she’s been in Boston for the past two that this will be the first time we see each other twice in one year. The past four years of our friendship has been a compilation of group zoom calls on birthday celebrations, phone calls catching up and sending letters back and forth.
Then of course, the second week of March is the Town Meeting for North Haven, so I must be present.
The third weekend of March is a trip to New York City!!! A fellow islander’s son is in a Broadway show and has connected Theo, our roommate Allison and her partner Maddie to house seats at the show. The weekend will be filled with fan-girling, cocktails, shopping and giggling.
What’s left is making up hours at work, content creation days with Fiona, Sunday Sound-offs, and Daylight savings.
At least Leap Year has pushed my rent payment a day later.
Does that mean that March is the month of boredom?
From the looks of my calendar, no. But with my weekend’s packed I try to make the weekdays smooth and light, ending most of them around 6. Tuesday’s will remain studio days with Fiona and sleepy Juni. Wednesday alternated therapy with Paula and North Haven’s writing group Scribblers. But outside of those black pen plans are homemade noodle night with Molly, walks for the sunset, calling home and meals at the house. Then of course you have to have the night where you smoke a joint while star gazing to then melt into the couch watching Ink Masters in PJS with semi-hot tea.
What is free time?
According to google, free time is: time that is free from duties or responsibilities. Accompanied by images of people floating in pool tubes, reading, drinking green smoothies and sitting on the couch. The word “leisure” also pops up.
Is March Winter or Spring?
Technically March is both, Spring starts on March 19.
Why does it feel so long?
Well it is, it is the longest month of the year. The blue and bright skies in contrast to the cold below freezing temperatures are hard to navigate, and the 5pm sunsets will never amaze me. I am so grateful for the longer daylight, and my favorite winter days are those sunny and blue. As someone who likes to be productive and busy I find March hard to keep up with. I find myself very reflective in March, thinking of how my winter went, goals for myself as we enter spring and approach my birthday. I’ve always viewed my birthday (April 27) as an individual new year, making March the final month before this shift. Defrosting my feelings and readdressing how I am feeling. Even though I have been out of college for two years I find myself still grieving the schedule and flexibility I had. In college I could measure my time and goals in semesters. Now that I am in the real world I get confused on what decisions are based on how I am feeling or just boredom. But is boredom a feeling I am getting from not being challenged or stimulated in my day-to-day? March brings the madness of being cooped in the house, afraid to ride the ferry in fear of sea sickness and being stuck inside, watching the sunset at 3:30PM over my laptop at work and so on.
What should I do?!
Enjoy the cold and sunshine filled days, make plans with your friends, journal about your stuckness, go on day trips, sleep in hotel beds, call the one friend who you text once in a while. Attempt to make gluten free noodles, binge watch reality TV, play pickleball, go shopping, buy new lip balm, make candles, write a letter, clean your closet, buy concert tickets.
March can be long, but it can also be fun, be bored, have free time, make plans, be busy, take time to think.