When Bonus Time Looses Its Appeal

Bonus Time.

This, in and of itself, is an easy concept.

A term I incorporated into my vocabulary this past year and filed under "one of the best feelings on earth". 

When life gets really busy, and all of our evenings are given away to different obligations and commitments, bonus time is found in the random, "week off" of XYZ, or the friend who, although you want to see her, calls to say she "just cannot make it tonight", and all of a sudden, you have some unmarked time.  

Suddenly -like a gift- you have an hour, maybe two or three- maybe the remainder of the evening, and it is ALL YOURS!!

I HEART Bonus Time so much!!!

But there is a caveat. 

First thing is the fact that Big Strong Man will read this and wonder what on earth I am going on and on about because, according to him, we do too much as is and it is my doing. My insisting. The two evenings a week we have dedicated to activities are two too many for him. 

So, he will ask, why do you make these commitments if you enjoy the down time?

And to him I will reply, this is fair...let me think it over. 

The caveat is this: 

Bonus Time is a BONUS when it is unexpected, like a surprise, and it only counts as BONUS time when it is bonus- not the norm. 

https://southernpiphi.tumblr.com/post/16357975122

This quarantine business had me really excited at first.
Like many, probably you included, it has lost...is losing ...is overreaching it's appeal. 

Although I can haul up in my house and read book after book or refurbish hutch after hutch (like I do in my dreams), life is still happening in the midst, so it isn't real bonus time...it is fabricated, over-exaggerated, phoney-balony bonus time. 

It's too much bonus time. 

I know there are saints among us who are busy sewing masks for everyone, and others who are using this time to catch up on every sitcom they every desired, but I am neither of these women. 

So I can clean my house- and scrub the titles on my bathroom floor like never before, clean out my fridge and freezer, and even vacuum the ceiling, but it gets old after so long. 

And I can read one delicious book after another, which I am keen to do, but still I find myself in this oddball juxtaposition: 

I cannot wait for life to return to normal. To build a schedule and go places -with people- and see and do and touch things once again. 

And also, I enjoy this down time of life where the more simple things are prevalent. 

Like immediate family and...well, nothing else. 

Like many things, I am holding both, longing for this quarantine to be lifted and dreading it as well. 

If we do not take advantage of these days, we will MISS THEM when they are gone. 

Did you catch that?
WE WILL MISS THIS TIME. 

https://bayart.org/quotes/

I know there are many people for whom this quarantine is everything negative. 

They are entirely alone. 

Maybe they lost their job. 

Maybe they are sick, or working with the sick. 

Nothing is written to make light of people's struggles and realities. 

For those of us who have this extra time to paint our bathrooms and clear-out our fireplaces, let's be so very grateful and take advantage of this as best we can- even when it seems like too much of a good thing. 

Maybe your Bonus Time has lost some of it's appeal as well. 

Maybe you never saw it as such to begin with. 

Although contrary to the title, if this season of life resembles Bonus Time in the least, let's continue to push on and encourage one another to enjoy it- even in excess. 

@niknejad

I am writing to myself here, feeling like the Bonus Time has run its course. But still, I am excited every day for the endless possibilities of WHAT IF 

What have you found to be positive ways to fill your time?
How do you find renewed encouragement when there is no certain deadline to look to?

What fun and exciting hobbies, interests, or goals have you dug into during this time? 

What are your thoughts and what you have been doing during this time? 

I'll start: 

I have been deep-cleaning my house. 

My bathroom titles have never been cleaner! 

I have cleaned out my fireplace- first time in 2.5 years!

And I picked up (and finished!) a book with over 800 pages which intimidated me (because of the size AS WELL as the author). I wonder if I would have been so brave had life been normal and time been limited?

I have been taking bike rides and going on walks with my sons. 

Together, we painted rocks and we work on school assignments.

Big Strong Man is planting a garden, tending to the seedlings, tilling the dirt, and building a support system as both a retainer and a lovely addition to our landscape. Right now, he is sawing some wood, hoping to build a desk from scratch.

Our sons have been mastering Minecraft and building incredibly detailed homes with lairs and pumpkin patches, and also devouring Shaun the Sheep, which our eldest sings along to even when it is the wordless version, and we are OK with both.

This quarantine is for a season, and Heaven alone knows how long it will last and I don't wish to be found looking back and longing for the days which were simpler...I bet you don't either. 

 Be encouraged. From my humble house and humble family, to yours.