Is it normal that I do nothing in my free time

I’ve been assessing how I spend my time and I’ve realise how little I do in my free time, I’ve just recently turned 18 and most days I’m free I just stay inside doing nothing. I do have friends but my 3 main friends are usually busy, 2 of them live 3 miles away from me and 1 of them has a part time job, and the last one lives rally close but we’re both introverted and his parents are pretty strict and restrictive so most days I just stay inside doing nothing and just chilling with my brother. Is this a bad thing or is this normal for someone my age?

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

Original post

by Anonymous

I’ve been assessing how I spend my time and I’ve realise how little I do in my free time, I’ve just recently turned 18 and most days I’m free I just stay inside doing nothing. I do have friends but my 3 main friends are usually busy, 2 of them live 3 miles away from me and 1 of them has a part time job, and the last one lives rally close but we’re both introverted and his parents are pretty strict and restrictive so most days I just stay inside doing nothing and just chilling with my brother. Is this a bad thing or is this normal for someone my age?

It's kind of "normal" considering how common it is. However, just because something is normal doesn't necessarily mean it's healthy. Being obese in the US is "normal"/common for example, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's healthy.

I would try expanding your social circle. Whilst it's important to keep in touch with your true friends, you would still need a social circle to maintain some sort of healthy social life.

Also, when you have your whole life ahead of you and you haven't spent your week doing intensive stuff, doing nothing seems like you haven't been spending your time wisely. Personally, I would do things along the lines of:

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Getting extra qualifications for high paying "part time jobs" that you can do on the side - most people are doing part time jobs that pay close to minimum wage. It shouldn't be difficult to get more than this, assuming you pass all of your A Levels.

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Work on self development - e.g. mental health, life direction, who you are as a person, what you want out of life

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Expand your knowledge - read and watch more about what you love learning about

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Expand your skill set - irrespective of whether you need it in a job or not, some skills would come in handy when you're in a pinch e.g. speed reading (very useful for uni) and touch typing.

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Driving lessons

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Things on your bucket list that you can do right now - there are various life goals that you can do that won't cosr money e.g. write a novel, animate videos, reassemble your desktop computer, watch top 100 films that are available on TV or Netflix (technically cost money, but you can sometimes get some things for free), design your dream house.

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Play around with AI - and if you don't know or lack inspiration, look on social media for ideas

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Do something that would be helpful for your uni course (should you decide to go to uni)

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Exercise and build the body that you want

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Put together a blog

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Learn a foreign language

There are probably countless things that you can do more than just mere nothing.

Also, when you say you are doing nothing at home, you aren't technically doing "nothing". Doom scrolling is a typical habit, as many are supposedly doing. Endlessly DM-ing your friends is another.

Reply 2

Zarek

21

I would get out a bit more and find a hobby you can put your heart in to

Is it normal that I do nothing in my free time

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