The Lost Art of Free Time
March 19th, 2025
Written by: Kaya Jain
Edited by: Naiya Mainigi
A few days ago, I found myself staring at my Google Calendar, attempting to squeeze in a dinner with friends between classes, meetings, and deadlines. It took three people, two reschedules, and a handful of “let me check my calendar” texts before we finally settled on a time—8:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, after my problem set was due but before my friend had to start studying for her midterm. The irony then hit me: we were scheduling free time.
Somewhere between moving into my dorm freshman year and now, free time stopped being free. It became something to budget, something to strategize. In college, there’s a constant undercurrent of pressure to always be productive—whether it’s coursework, extracurriculars, networking, or resume-building. And if you do happen to have a free hour? The expectation is that you should be optimizing it.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard, “I used to love painting, but I just don’t have the time anymore,” or, “I wish I could read for fun, but I have too much work.” Somehow, hobbies—the things we do purely for enjoyment—have become luxuries rather than essentials.
The Guilt of Doing Nothing
I think part of the problem is that we’ve convinced ourselves that free time must be useful. If we’re not actively working toward a goal, it feels like wasted time. Watching a show? Well, at least it’s in another language, so you’re “learning.” Going to the gym? It counts because exercise is “productive.” We rarely do things just because they make us happy.
But the reality is that free time doesn’t have to be productive to be valuable. Some of the most fulfilling moments come from the things that have no external reward—singing in the shower, doodling in the margins of your notes, cooking a meal that takes way too long just because you feel like it. These are the things that make us feel like people, not just students running on a never-ending treadmill of obligations.
Bringing Hobbies Back
So how do we reclaim our hobbies? How do we carve out space for joy when our schedules are packed?
Ditch the Productivity Mindset. You don’t have to be “good” at something for it to be worth doing. You can knit a scarf even if it comes out lopsided. You can journal even if no one will ever read it. Do things for the sake of doing them, not because they add value to your resume.
Make Free Time Non-Negotiable. We block off time for classes, meetings, and work—why not do the same for ourselves? Schedule an hour for painting, reading, or whatever you love, and treat it with the same importance as a deadline.
Start Small. You don’t need to carve out hours to start a hobby. Read a few pages of a new book while drinking your morning coffee. Play guitar for ten minutes before bed. Small moments of joy add up.
Let Yourself Be Bored. Our first instinct when we have nothing to do is to reach for our phones. But boredom is where creativity lives. Instead of filling every spare second with scrolling, let yourself sit in stillness. You might be surprised by the ideas that come to you.
College is short, and in the chaos of exams and obligations, it’s easy to forget that we are more than just students—we are people who deserve to enjoy our time. Free time isn’t wasted time. Hobbies aren’t distractions. They are the things that make life richer and more meaningful.
So, pick up the paintbrush. Start writing that short story. Take an afternoon to learn how to bake bread. In the grand scheme of things, these are the moments you’ll remember—not the nights spent endlessly refreshing your email, waiting for the next thing to do.
Here’s to finding joy in the spaces in between.
