extracurricular
Life is kind of like a seamless story of activities. One day flows into the next. There are planned activities and random adventures. I have a set of responsibilities that make up my daily routine - at home, at work, in my relationships... I routinely assess my situation of the day to day life that I lead and appoint time and energy to make sure all my responsibilities are taken care of. I look at my relationship and give my partner the time and love (two of the most important things in a relationship) in order to be good partner. I look at my house and make sure that it is clean, my work and chores are completed, my bills are paid and my laundry is done. I feed my dog twice a day and groom her when she is dirty. All the routine responsibilities are well looked after. Being efficient with my time is a huge item on my list of living life. If I am efficient with my time, I afford myself time for extracurricular activities... Such as surfing. Or trips for photography. Or beach days with my dog. Anything outside of my normal responsibilities is just an added bonus... but you have to afford yourself the time and energy to take on the added bonuses. I would love to take cooking classes... or learn how to salsa dance. I would love to take all my old clothes and rip them up and sew them back together to make new clothes. I would love to take art lessons and learn how to make clay sculptures. Sometimes I say there isn't enough time in a day to do the things I want to do, but I do have the time. I just choose to take it more leisurely. I could, for example, skip the long surf session and take an art class... but I like surfing - and when I'm out there, I don't want to come in. I could also wake up an hour earlier and explore an early morning Tai Chi class... but I like my sleep because I don't really get much of it. It's all in our control, we just have to make the decisions that determine the scenery of the path we are on in life. Afford yourself extra curricular activities to keep life more interesting. Anything extra is an added bonus.. every one likes bonuses.
I think interesting people can be singled out by their choice of extracurricular activities. People who do and try lots of different things are often much more interesting and curious people. They have experienced many creative avenues. Even if they aren't good at some things, their choices to challenge themselves in a foreign way has expanded their minds just through the experience and broadened their perspectives. It's like perspective is a beautiful collage of polaroids that you make in your lifetime... Polaroids are moments of reality... come and gone, but captured for future contemplations. One overlaps the other, which overlaps the next one. The more perspective you have, the richer the collage becomes.
Perhaps we can look at "extracurricular" as just exposing yourself to interesting avenues as they fit into your life. For someone who is a social person, they can paint the canvas of their life with extra bright and colorful people. If you hang out with funny people, you will learn to laugh a lot... and you should know a couple of good jokes too. If you hang around musical people you should gain a more refined appreciation for good music... and perhaps expose yourself to the inner workings of an instrument or two. I guess coloring your life with creativity is different for each person... you just have to determine how you are creatively challenged. And then challenge yourself.
I know what I am after. I am after the experiences that will enrich my mind and imagination and challenge my routine. Try adding a little flair to your life. Think about adding a quarter of your time in a day to exploring new things. Put your quarter into the gumball machine that is life and hope for a tasty red gumball. Sometimes you'll get a blue one. Sometimes you'll get a yellow one. Whatever comes out, you know you're getting a gumball that you can blow a huge colorful bubble with that might just pop in your face But if you don't put the quarter in you can almost bet your life on it that nothing will come out.