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Several months ago I was considering writing something titled Don't Procrastinate Fun I'm glad I didn't because while the overall theme of what I'm about to write now is quite similar to what that would have been, I do think I'll be contradicting some of the points I would likely have made then.
It is no secret that life is full of boring things that we have to do, whether that be schoolwork or housework or work-work or someone else's schoolwork or housework or work-work, there often feels as if there is no end to boring things that we have to do to keep up in life, in fact it can be quite easy to put ourselves into a position where there is no end to these boring tasks, this is why we must give ourselves an end to these things (even if it is only a temporary one).
It is important for us to plan to do fun things, and I don't mean that we should tell ourselves that one day we are going to do some thing that we've always wanted to do, I mean that we should actually put into our schedules that we will be doing a specific activity at a specific time with a specific group of people. It is important for us all to have something to look forward to when we are trapped in the monotony of different types of work, without anything to look forward to we will eventually come to the point where we lose purpose and have no motivation to continue the boring work you force yourself to do every day.
Had I written about not procrastinating fun I would have likely talked about the benefits of being spontaneous, and while spontaneity has its merits, and should be practiced whenever possible, it can easily be prevented by a large load of work, however plans, especially those that involve other people, cannot. Having a set plan is always better than relying on randomness.
You probably noticed that I emphasized making fun plans with other people, not just by yourself, this is important not only because plans are more likely to actually be carried out if they are made with other people, but because there is no replacement for spending time with friends, real friends. Unfortunately we live in a world where there are many forces trying to prevent us from doing that, whether it be through regulations or through social programming.
I've mentioned before the importance of word choice and the meaning of words, and the term social distancing is one where this persuasive tool is on display. The meaning of the word social has nothing to do with your proximity to another person, instead it has everything to do with our relationships with other people. When we are told to socially distance these days we think of staying six feet apart from others and stuff like that, but subconsciously we know better than that, our brains pick up on the actual meaning of social distance which is to distance ourselves from our friends and family so that we spend our days in loneliness as we are only allowed to consoom media that can never replace actual relationships that lead to actual joy. If the only goal of social distancing was to keep people six feet from each other then it would have been called physical distancing since that term's definition matches the supposed goal.
If we are social distancing we cannot spend time with our friends, instead we must spend time on social media which also has a disgustingly deceptive name. If we are social distancing we cannot go and watch movies with our friends, instead we must consoom content on streaming services which are designed to get you to binge watch substanceless shows that are of little value to your life, much less value than that of real friends. If we are social distancing we cannot make plans with our friends which give us something to look forward to as we seek to deal with the boring monotony of having to work, instead we must slave away at whatever we are doing with only the comfort of sleep to look forward to at the end of each day. If we are social distancing then we cannot do the things that we need to do to be happy. Physical health is easy to fix, mental and social health problems are much harder to deal with.
So make plans to do something fun with your friends, not only will it give you something to look forward to as you work through a seemingly endless pile of tasks, but it will help you to become and remain happy.