Question of Holidays

Have you ever been so glad that a holiday has arrived, but by the end of it feel so unsatisfied with it? I've had several, and a lot of people have also expressed such a feeling either to their closest friends or online. Mostly online though.

I noticed that I wished that the holiday period could be extended. Admittedly, sometimes I do find that by the end of the holiday, I am looking forward to going back to work/school/college, but more often than not, I'd rather continue taking time off from the stresses that serious stuff puts on my plate.

I had a think about why I felt such a way. There could be a multitude of reasons, but for the purpose of this post, I'd like to zero in on one reason in particular: that I feel like I haven't made the best out of my time off. I'd want more time to not do work stuff and more time to do stuff that I'd only have time for during the holidays. But what are those things?

I've never actually outlined what I look for in a holiday. Whenever a holiday comes, I just revel in the fact that I don't have to go to work for a period of time, and I rarely go beyond that thought. But to spend the holidays in a way that will leave me satisfied by the end of it, I need to make clear what it is I want satisfied. That is, what are my goals for the holidays? Why does having all this free time matter to me? If I weren't at work, what would I rather be doing?

So I first have to define what a holiday means to me. Side-note: this is starting to sound very much like work. Padahal nak sembang pasai cuti kot. Side-side-note: but I'm discussing this so that I can start to spend my holidays in a productive manner. Takmaw dah buang masa not knowing what I'm doing with my time, nor what I'm even supposed to be doing.

What is a holiday? It's time off from work. Sure, that definition is a general definition for everyone, but what does it mean to me, specifically. Why do I, Noor Anwar Hadi, value holidays?

One of the reasons I value it is because I get all this time to do stuff that I am passionate about but aren't work-related. They include (but are not limited to) spending time with my family, learning new things, taking on new experiences, reading, writing and making music.

So there you go. Holidays for me is a time when I can and should spend time with my family, learn new things, experience new things, read, write and make music. A now have a general list which I can tick whenever the holidays come around. Keeping it general like that is a bad idea for a procrastinator like myself, so whenever a new holiday rolls around, I should specify exactly what it is I'm going to do within each of those categories. For example:

- Spend time with family: from this date to this date, balik kampung.
- Learn new thing: watch three documentaries about hip-hop on Youtube.
- Experience new thing: volunteer for soup kitchen at this location on this date.
- Read: *Book title* by *author*.
- Write: Three short stories.
- Make music: One three-minute-long rap song.

Once I have all these tangible goals set, I can start doing each of them. And if by the end of the holiday I can tick all of them off the list, then I'd be satisfied with myself and not feel guilty about wasting my holiday doing what also I don't know.

I think that's a good way to approach a holiday, at least for me. By the end of it, I'd be able to feel a sense of achievement that I've spent my holiday doing something meaningful and fulfilling.

But of course, to each their own. What works for me might not work for you, dear reader. If you find yourself dissatisfied by the end of most holidays, then I suggest you find out what works for you by asking yourself the initial questions and set out to make holidays more fulfilling for yourself.