Three Hours Of Me Time Weekdays

I was inspired to write a blog about a full time worker who commutes daily. I helped my dad and his friend paint a house. My dad and I woke up and ate breakfast at 7:30am. We drove off at 8am. We arrived at 9am to paint the entire day with an hour for lunch. My dad and I went home at 6pm. We arrived home at 7pm. We went to sleep at 10pm because we wanted and needed eight hours of sleep. The routine repeated this week from Mon to Thur.

What if I have a 9am-6pm job that requires driving one hour to work? I can't wake up at 7:30am. Obviously, my morning was very casual and easy going for the house painting. I must wake up at 6am to eat a healthy breakfast, listen to the news and sports radio stations, read the newspaper, brush my teeth, shave, change clothes from my pajamas to shirts and slacks, gather my suitcase, lock the door, and drive off at 8am. My body wakes up slowly and it requires time to settle in for the working day.

The rest of the day follows exactly the house painting. To repeat the weekday schedule:

6am: Wake up
8am: Leave home.
9am-6pm: Work at my company.
7pm: Arrive home.
10pm: Sleep for eight hours.

I have no life with three hours of time for myself each weekday. I actually have less than three hours because I must factor cooking dinner, brushing my teeth, and showering. I have little time to workout at the gym, watch a television show or sports, and complete personal projects and errands. I also need time to keep up with my friends and family with email, Facebook, and Twitter.

How can people live life with three hours of discretionary and recreational time a day? I don't think I can. I can decrease my hours of sleep from eight to six by sleeping at 12am instead of 10pm. I predict I lose concentration, act grumpy, feel weaker, and make more mistakes with six hours of sleep. On the other hand, I can use extra two hours to read books.

We live a life where some aspects are instant and fast. A great example is retail and restaurants selling and serving fast food, fast dinners, and frozen microwave dinners including supermarkets, Costco, fast food chains, and your local 7-Eleven. I can buy my dinners that save me 30-60 minutes if I need to work at home. I prefer to cook because I cook and eat healthy. Cooking is one of my best activities to relax.

There is so much going on in our lives. I don't understand how people say they're bored, especially the full time workers. What if I have a family? I have no free time to myself. I need to raise and nurture my children. I need to spend time with my wife.

I can go on and on discussing how I spend a weekday at work, at home, on the road, with other people, and by myself whether I'm single or married and with or without children. The point is how can I achieve a satisfactory balance between work, rest, and leisure so I can live a healthy, productive, and active life? I have no answers at the moment.