Responsibility and Freedom go hand in hand. Freedom gives us an opportunity to use it the way one wants to use it. The prevailing COVID-19 scenario has thrown a lot of free time at us. Everyone has the freedom to structure it the way one wants it. In this article, I am attempting to show the subtle relationship between freedom and responsibility and how the inner power connects these two. 

Go back by a couple of months, before COVID-19. A working day was so well structured: the school bus was on time, parents, children - all woke up around a "fixed time", were ready in a "fixed duration" and in the bus stop "on time". So was it with office work: bath, exercise, puja, breakfast...were all "on time", to reach the office on or before login time. "On time" was almost there everywhere throughout the day. Though it looked like a rat race, it gave a structure for the day and night. It also created a social agreement for all to come together either at school or work.

Consider the other side of life in the same scenario. Many of our favorite activities were kept aside, predominantly with one reason - "I don't have TIME". Whether it was gardening, painting, reading, exercise, meditation, doing that course, honing that skill, cooking, family time - with parents, with wife, family dinner, playing with kids, storytelling, performing rituals, calling that aunt...what not? We put the responsibility of it on ‘TIME’. The same TIME was so well adhered to, when externally imposed.

Welcome to COVID-19 times. Office work from home has become a new norm and has given us a considerable amount of free unstructured time. Apart from certain agreed office work hours, there is no one to ask and no situation that demands adherence to a time structure. One can clean, shop the groceries, get fixes done on any day. No need to sleep early, wake up early, attend a function or visit a relative. There is also relief from stress of - traffic, getting ready, rushing for the bus, finishing the work before leaving the office and so-on. Welcome to this freedom to structure the time the way one wants to. 

That being the case, since the time of COVID-19 outbreak:

1. Which of the hobbies that were kept out of sight in the name of TIME, were attended to? 

2. How much time is spent as family - family lunch, dinner, story time, play time, study time, cooking time etc.?

3. What is happening to the existing time structure: on exercising, waking up and going to bed? What is the change in the screen time with TV and mobiles?

What's happening to this extra new time? All the while, it was time that was blamed on the lack of its availability. But, now that it is available, the need to be responsible about it is also coming along. So, one can structure the time in a meaningful and desirable way for self, family and society. But, if this is not done, some other activity/someone else would consume our time. It could be activities, temper, mood, weather, laziness, hang over and so-on. Often many fail to own this responsibility - both subtly and evidently. They further fail to acknowledge it, as much of the time structuring happens automatically, without awareness. This has become the socially accepted parlance of - "I don't have TIME", which often is not the case.

Mastering the time structuring, not by depending on external activities, but by inter-depending with them is a difficult, huge and subtle responsibility. Within this interdependence, one has to bring out his ability to respond(response-ability), his inner power, which is ignored, not believed in, not experienced or not even thought of! It is about yes/no to the activities around him. As one chooses to structure his time to fulfill his needs and wishes, he becomes powerful and gains control over his life. So, next time before saying, "I don't have TIME", it would be powerful to check if the TIME was owned? Instead, if one says - "I don't prioritize" this (whatever it is), it would make the person feel responsible.