I hear from friends who are too busy, too burdened. They report being harried. I want to say to experiment and to note what's up. Some notes about how busy, how much fun something is, what comes to mind as a good alternative, can help. Some people are just now moving into assisted living and they may face the prospect of having too few activities.
I hear woes expressed about being busy but I rarely hear complaints about not being sufficiently busy. I suspect for most people, it is socially ok to express burdens from duties and schedules but maybe less so to say "I have too little to do." I find that meditation, just sitting still for 5 or 10 minutes, helps much to put things into perspective. I need to do certain basic things to stay alive and reasonably happy but I do find it helpful to consider myself the designer of my days and my lists of tasks. I consider the content of the days and the tasks both my responsibility and my choice.
I realize I don't have unlimited choice but I don't need unlimited choice either.
We watched a few minutes of Cranford on PBS. It includes Judi Dench and seems to be about an English village in about 1850. I get the impression that what is ok to say and ok to think and ok to believe is rather completely specified for that time and place. I guess if the place and the person fit together nicely, that's ok. However, if they don't fit, if limitations and customs chafe, I say look around. There are alternatives.
