"Wasting" time

A huge topic that I've wanted to address for a while now is the concept of wasting time. 

Productivity: 

pro·duc·tiv·i·ty

  [proh-duhk-tiv-i-tee, prod-uhk‐]

noun

1.

the quality, state, or fact of being able to generate, create,enhance, or bring forth goods and services: The productivity of thegroup's effort surprised everyone.

I told a coworker today that the highlight of my weekend was going to Fairmount Park and reading my book (The Husband's Secret). Her response was to question how I could justify "wasting" an afternoon outside. I was totally taken aback. Waste my afternoon? I was absolutely flabbergasted because to me, my Sunday afternoon wasn't wasted, I totally embraced the free time to myself. I explained to her that I was entirely in the moment when I was reading, so how could it have been time wasted? I went on to describe how pleasurable reading is, what a gloriously simple pleasure it is.

If I'm enjoying my time, even if it means letting an entire afternoon "slip by", I'm content. I could have done a slew of random tasks around the house (laundry, clean the kitchen, etc), but to me it would have been a bigger waste of time to race around doing chores than to take two hours to myself to escape into my book. It's the same as watching the sunset, lying in bed listening to your favorite song, building sandcastles, moseying around the farmers' market, playing peek-a-boo, admiring a beautiful flower garden, sitting in front of a fire, relaxing in front of your favorite movie - all of these things might be considered by people like my coworker as "time-wasters", but really, if you're in the moment and simply enjoying yourself, it adds immeasurable joy to your life. 

Click here for a long list of 101 Simple Pleasures compiled by Andrew Reiser at Huffington Post.