My entire life I have been busy. Ever since I was a little kid my parents had me playing a variety of sports, and things did not slow down at all once I started moving up in my education. Honors and AP classes started piling up, I joined more sports, and for a hot second (2 very long years) I decided to be in the marching band. For the most part in high school, every hour of everyday was planned, and if it wasn’t then I was trying to catch up on hundreds of hours of missed sleep.

In college it hasn’t gotten much better. Between working jobs, clubs, social life, and classes I once again find myself trading sleep and relaxation for other activities. I never really had time to sit down and just be. There is also the constant stress of having deadlines and things that you could and should be doing. Travelling made things simpler, but again I found myself always squeezing in extra activities because I did not want to miss out on anything in the incredible cities I was visiting. Sleep was something I was willing to sacrifice until my next night bus/train. I quickly figured out that there is a major difference between vacationing and traveling.

Now in Ghana my life has been turned upside down. I no longer find myself scavenging for minutes of peaceful slumber; rather I have too much free time. Is that even possible? On Mondays I am in class from 9:30am-7: 30 pm, but on Wednesday and Thursday I only have one hour of class. All the other hours are empty. I have nothing to do other than homework, but even that isn’t compulsory here. For a while I thought that this was going to drive me insane.

The other day I was speaking with Auntie Theresa and when I told her about my dilemma, she kindle responded with:

“Enjoy it. This is probably the last time in your life where you will actually have this amount of free time.”

Ever since she told me about that I started to actually think about it more. Was I really complaining about having too much free time? To me, free time has always ended up with me sleeping copious amounts. It is almost ridiculous how much I sleep now. Thinking about it more though, all this free time has really caused me to slow down and think about the things around me. When your life is moving at a million miles an hour, you do not always have time to stop and appreciate the life that is going on around you. Sometimes it is really important to be around.

In Ghana, things move slowly. People move slowly, traffic moves slowly, and for the most part it feels like even time moves slower. Nobody is in a rush to do much of anything other than hang out with friends. There is a saying here that goes somewhat along the lines of if you need to use the washroom, use it before you start talking to someone-otherwise you might not make it. Right now all this free time has given me a lot of time to hang out and get to know some incredible people on a very personal level. I am also now becoming more proactive and becoming more involved while I am here to fill up some of the emptiness. I am now realizing that “adulthood” is coming up a lot quicker than expected. I’m already a junior in college and although I have some direction, I am still pretty lost and this huge amount of free time that I have now may not exist ever again depending where life takes me.

Although I am starting to gain a bit more appreciation for the free time. I also recognize that I am the type of person who needs to be constantly doing something to feel like they have accomplished. Who knows, maybe I will start teaching myself a new language, taking a few more beach days or learning how to do a handstand. I might even start planning my next travels, which are hopefully sooner rather than later. Regardless of what I choose to do, I am going to relish in the fact that I might have too much time on my hands right now.

Hasta Pronto,

-L