The other day, I was talking to an old acquaintance of mine that I haven’t met for years. We were trying to set up a date for us to go take a beer together, and I said “You decide, I’m sure you have a very busy life”. He answered: “Well, yeah, but not busier than yours, surely?”.
And that got me thinking. I study full time, and am also ambitious, I read all textbooks from cover to cover and I go to all lectures. I am the president of the geo section’s student council, vice president of the faculty council and student representative in the department board plus three other faculty or university level councils. I work extra as a tutor. I almost never eat out, which means I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and lately I’ve started going running every weekday morning, as a way to at least get some exercise. I haven’t read that many books lately, but I enjoy walking to places whenever I can and listening to podcasts from the Swedish radio. Which means that I keep myself updated on both world news and pop culture. I’ve also been following several TV shows this past season. Thirteen, if I’m being completely honest. It’s my way to unwind in the evenings. I also usually make sure to spend time with friends a couple of times a week, going on walks with Kirke and Zorro or eating dinner with Hanna, or why not go out dancing with both of them, having TV show marathons with Natalia and lately also having long discussions about relationships with Lina. This past winter, I knitted one sweater, a pair of mittens, two pairs of socks and a couple of smartphone covers. I also made more than 16 liters of apple sauce. All my Christmas presents were homemade Christmas candy or cookies. And I spend a lot of time writing on this blog, in my journal and editing my photographs.
I guess, when I list things like that, it looks as if I’m a pretty busy person. And in a sense I am. I rarely have days when I just hang around at home, doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that – except when I have my isolation days, lying in bed watching TV shows, hiding from all the have-to’s. It just feels like – all those things that I do, I do because I have the time. All the things that other people do, they do because they have to, because they are important, and because they matter. Therefore, I should adapt to their schedules. I usually say that, “You decide”, and then I end up having to read 100 pages of documents for the next board meeting well after midnight. Do I undervaluate my own time? Is that simply it?
Katja Malmborg 