I’ve been seeing a certain phrase a lot lately. One that really makes me irrationally angry. You can find it on any social media post where someone has done something a bit creative or just plain fun:

Well, someone has too much time on their hands.

Some Asshole.

I really really hate this phrase. It implies that if you have created anything that isn’t related to some kind of job (those things that suck away far too much of our lives), then you are wasting your time. It’s dismissive of the creative act. The same mentality that makes people assume that you’re doing nothing because you’re reading a book. Yes I am doing something, I’m reading a book. How did we get this frame of mind that doing something you love and enjoy is a waste of time?

Seriously, I’m asking because it baffles me. Maybe I’m a bit sensitive to it because the past few weeks I haven’t had as much time as I would like to do the things I love. Sometimes life just gets int he way. So surely then, it’s even more important to use what little time you find to do those things. We aren’t supposed to be drones who just go to work, slave away all day, then come home and stare blankly at the TV so we can repeat the whole process again tomorrow into perpetuity.

Do what you love whenever you get a chance. You want to build a massive LEGO rollercoaster in your back gaarden, do it. You want to spend a whole weekend as a level 5 Tiefling Druid battling owlbears, do it. There is no waste of time when it’s something you love and feel passionate about. Remember these words of wisdom from George Bernard Shaw:

We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.

George Bernard Shaw

Read that book, build that LEGO fort and roll those dice. And most of all, do the things you love.