by Alexis Spier
You wake up at 5:45 a.m. From 6 a.m. – 8 a.m., you study. Then you go to class. After class, you go to work. After work, you go to practice. After practice, you go to the library and study for two hours. Finally, you get home. You have finished everything for the day, and now you have some free time. However, it’s 9 p.m. and tomorrow you have to get up and do it all over again.
This might look like an exaggerated example, but this is reality for Ella Wragge. Wragge is a junior political science major at Morningside University. Although her schedule is full, she still makes time for leisure. One might think that because she likes to stay busy during the day that her leisure time would reflect that of her day.
“My productivity at the end of the day (she laughs), I’m all done,” Wragge said. “Leisure time is very important to me, because if I were to do productive things all day and night, I’d be really burnt out.”
Wragge admits that her schedule gets overwhelming. She studies for 4 hours every day and does even more on the weekends. She works 18 hours a week at Goosmann Law Firm and 16 hours a week at The Wheelhouse Bar & Grill. On top of that she is on the Morningside Women’s Basketball team.
Ella is the kind of person that prefers being busy, because the productivity gives her a positive peace of mind. But even she acknowledges it can be too much for her. I asked her if it’s hard for her to find free time. She recommended a schedule.
“I found that it’s easy to find leisure time when I schedule and make time for myself to do homework. Me waking up at 6 am to study for LSAT gives me time in the evening. As soon as I get off work or out of class, I go to the library for two hours and do as much homework as I can, so the rest of the night I’m not worrying about it.” Wragge says, “I’m wired as a more go with the flow person, but my goals and my schedule don’t allow me to do that, so I’ve had to change my habits.”
Wragge mentions changing her habits. She knows that leisure time is crucial for her well-being, so she is proactive about allowing time to do some of the things she loves. All majors have different demands, therefore some students may have a lot of free time and others schedules may look more like Wragge’s. It’s impressive that she can consistently keep up with this schedule and avoid burnout. What separates her from others is her passion.
“My goal is to work for a women’s right organization or an environmental organization or defend women who have been abused,” Wragge said. “If I’m doing something like that, it wouldn’t feel like work to me.”
With a hefty schedule like this, some people might want to collapse on the couch and watch TV or enjoy some videos on their phone. Sometimes that may be all the energy someone has and that is okay. But not all of the time.
It seems as though our society has moved towards a more solitary lifestyle. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called it the “epidemic of loneliness,” and earlier this year The Atlantic published an article emphasizing exactly how antisocial Americans are nowadays. Adults spent an additional 99 minutes at home compared to 2003. Boys’ and girls’ daily time spent with friends decreased by half since 1990. A 2023 study found husbands and wives are four times more likely to watch TV than talk to each other. From 1965-1995, adults gained 6 hours a week in leisure time. Almost all of this time went to watching television. From 1985-1994, community involvement decreased by half.
These facts can be explained by what Natalija Popovic calls, “the lowest hanging fruit.” The lowest hanging fruit is what new technology has programmed us to do. We watch television and scroll through social media, because it is easy.
However, Wragge prefers to spend her leisure time in other ways. “I love reading, doing puzzles, listening to podcasts, and going for walks,” she said. “Being in the sun is good for my mental and physical health.”
I noticed these were all things that she does on her own. Having alone time is prioritized for many people, but social interactions are equally as important, especially now when isolation is taking over. I asked Wragge if she spends time with others during her leisure time. I was surprised when she answered that she isn’t the kind of person who wants to be alone. In fact, she hates being alone. She loves to cook for her friends and see their reaction when they take that first bite.
“I am much happier when I’m with other people,” she said. “We don’t even have to talk; it’s the fact that we’re sitting here together.”
Wragge notes how she isn’t afraid of rejection. I know many students who are afraid that the answer they will get to asking people to hang out is no. I also know people who don’t want to face the initial steps of a friendship. Unfortunately, because our society has become more and more individual, people are socially awkward. They don’t know what to say or they don’t know how to carry the conversation forward. Wragge gave me an example of her taking that step.
“My political science friend… We’ve always had the same classes and now we work together,” Ella explained. “We’ve known each other for two years, so finally I asked, ‘Do you want to hang out outside of class and work?’” She compared making new friends to the first stages in a relationship: “It’s like the ‘what are we?’ in a relationship, but with friends.”
With our connection to everything and everyone all of the time, it can feel impossible to give our full attention to one thing. Leisure time can and most of the time will be interrupted by the ping of our smartphones. One method to try, and Wragge would recommend, is making a schedule. Create time before the week to do homework and enjoy leisure. Allowing time for studies can even provide a better leisure experience, because you were productive.
There are days where we just want to watch our favorite show to relax, but we can try to decrease the time spent with technology. Don’t grasp at the lowest hanging fruit. Go back to the things you loved to do before technology. A few of Wragge’s leisure time favorites are reading, walking, doing puzzles, and cooking for her friends.
Her passion drives her determination. She is excited by her education and work, because it is leading towards her dream. With that drive to learn, she still takes time to relax and refresh. It’s not impossible, even for Wragge, a political science major who plays college basketball, studies 4 hours a day, and works 34 hours a week.