Stressing myself in my freetime

I think it's pretty safe for me to complain about my lack of free time without very many people disagreeing. I am a full time student and I work full time as well. I consider myself extremely lucky when I get seven hours of sleep. I don't think there is anyone who would skim the surface of this situation without thinking of the stress or tension it may bring. And it's true, there is both stress and tension involved. But the fact is I really am doing what I want to do. I'm a work-a-hoick, I hate downtime and love accomplishments.

However, recently I was faced with three days off from work in a row. I celebrated naturally in the beginning but by the end I was even more stressed out. I asked myself: "How did this happen?" I came up with the undeniable fact that all my recreational activities were stressful. During my free time I felt it was necessary to do something very unengaged. So I sat in my room and played a video game for who knows how many hours. I blew off a few friends, chores, and homework on the excuse that I was relaxing and couldn't be bothered.

In reflection, losing and being unaccomplished in a virtual world was a bit disheartening. I know it seems silly, but seriously, who wants to be unaccomplished in the activity their using to not worry about accomplishments? That's one thing I really don't understand about video games. Also, I don't think sitting in a dark room in my Pj's while I let my laundry pile up does anything for my mood. Finally, to top it all off, friends get angry at me when I ignore them for three days.

So, near the final end of my long weekend I took a different direction. I curled up on my couch with my statistics book, plugged in my laptop, and did some homework. If I got mentally exhausted I'd surf the web or see what cheesy movie was on sci fi. At the end of this four or five hour period I really did feel very very good, and strangely relaxed.