Yarosh 1

Time Diary Phase II

Maddy Yarosh

Professor Milazzo

RPTM 120-001

1 October 2023

I found the diary assignment to be eye opening. I was quite surprised to see just how

much time I spent participating in my leisure activities, time with others, and time with

technology. Before the assignment, I would have given contradictory answers to the questions as

I believed I had a different relationship in those areas. The analysis of my data gave me a sense

of appreciation for myself as I look at my ability to manage time with what I value.

From my data collection, I was most surprised about the stark difference between my

time spent with others and the time I spent by myself. I found that my time with others was

almost double the time I spent alone, 32.5 hours versus 17.5. As I investigated the data more, it

began to make more sense as to why I have that huge difference. Most of my working days last

anywhere from ten to fourteen hours days and in that time, I am always working with people at

my jobs. This time with people is practically my entire day leaving me with only a few hours to

spend alone. When the weekend comes, I am with my boyfriend, Clay. As he lives a distance

from me, this is the only time we can spend together because of our schedules. His family lives

in the same area and we tend to spend some time with them on the weekend as well. While

spending time with others is an important aspect in life, it would be nice to have the ability to

have more “me time”. Research has shown that alone time can lead to an increase in creativity,

improved personal exploration, and more social energy (Cherry, 2023). The last benefit listed is
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where I feel as though I would profit the most from. While I love being around Clay’s family, the

weekends are where I like to recharge my social battery and prepare myself for another week at

work. Time alone is important to avoid any overwhelming feelings that can be caused from

constantly being surrounded by people.

I am pleasantly surprised by the balance of my time with technology and with no

technology. I work at two jobs; Amazon, and Old Navy, and at those jobs the use of technology

is the only way we can complete our work. At Old Navy and Amazon, I use various forms of

technology to do the job as efficiently as possible. For example, the scanners are necessary for

looking up the prices of certain clothing items at Old Navy and at Amazon we use them to scan

packages into the correction shipping location. Neendoor discusses how technology increases

efficiency in the workplace through the ease in communication and productivity (Neendoor,

2023). The use of headsets at both jobs ensures that communication throughout the shift is clear

and that whenever help is needed there is easy access to calling for it. The ease in

communication at both jobs results in a less stressful shift and the ability to complete the

workload by the end of shift. As I am continuing my education through online classes, I am

utilizing my laptop more than when I was taking in-person classes at West Chester University.

For my classes, I must watch videos that are incorporated for the lesson, access the textbook

through the online resources, and complete all necessary assignments. When I have little

schoolwork or an off from work, I do my best to limit the amount of technology I consume

through various leisure activities.

My total leisure time is four times more than the general population. I believe my time is

more than the general population because of how my work schedule is set up. Most people work
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from Monday to Friday but in my case, I work Monday to Thursday averaging 30 hours each

week between the two jobs. On the weekends, I do not and will not work so that I can use those

days to complete my schoolwork and have leisure time. The type of leisure activity that I

perform is much longer than the exercise portion in the graph. I play disc golf almost every

weekend which usually take 2-3 hours to play when playing 18 holes. My socializing is higher

because of the style of communication at my jobs. At Old Navy and Amazon, it is quite

important to have continuous communication because of the nature of work which leads to the

difference between me, and the general population based on the socializing and communication

portion. My leisure reading passes nineteen minutes on an average as I set a goal to read my

book for an hour. When I do schoolwork, I am constantly reading over the lesson or assignment

to ensure my understanding is correct.

I try to achieve a balance between schoolwork, family time/social time and work time.

Some weeks this can be easier than others for various reasons. When I look at my overall stress

for the days observed, I would say that I was on average minimally stressed. The bulk of my

stress occurred at my Amazon job. We have had recent changes that were not communicated to

us and with still learning the new system there has been some confusion among staff causing

some unneeded stress for us all. My overall emotional state was quite positive. I had had a

shorter work week than normal, so I had extra days to recuperate and alleviate my stress. The

days I had off I made sure to fill with family and enjoy my leisure activity of disc golf.

The biggest trend I see is that I am the most stressed at my Amazon job. As I mentioned there

were changes implemented in relation to how we complete our tasks that were not communicated

to us until the day before they were set in motion. This had resulted in massive delays in our
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work production as we were all struggling to understand the changes and keep up with the

amount of work that was given to us. If the operations managers informed us beforehand and

trained us, the transition would have been much smoother than it was and eliminating the

stressful environment that work has become within the last couple weeks. I will say that the

stress has been decreasing as we’ve worked in the program more and more and are able to learn

new ways to efficiently complete our work.

The times I am the happiest are when I am with those who I love and care about. On

Weekday 2, I went out to lunch with my best friend (Haley) of seven years also who I have

known since we were about three years old. Anytime I am with her time just flies away and we

talk for hours without getting bored of each other. I had then gone to get my haircut by Melissa

who has been doing my hair for the last eleven years. She and I have a special connection as she

reminds me of my sister, Melissa, who passed away when I was four and I remind her of her

sister who passed away years ago. Melissa tends to schedule my appointment as a two hour when

it only takes one so we can take our time to catch up with anything new that has gone on in our

lives. Every weekend, I travel to Carlisle to spend time with my boyfriend, Clay, and most of the

time we hang out with his family. Clay and I have been together for over a year while we have

had our ups and downs, he makes me the happiest I have been in a long time. He is the first man

that had treated me properly and showed me the way that I deserved to be loved. His family is

amazing as well. They welcomed me with giant arms and treated me like I have been in their

family forever. This time on the weekend is exactly what I feel keeps me grounded and prepares

me to continue pushing through any struggles I face during the day. Many of the people I

mentioned are all family to me whether they are blood related or not, I face true happiness when

I am around them. Dr. Todd Thatcher talks about the improved reduction in depression and
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anxiety individuals overcome from these experiences and the reduction in stress as family

functions as an outlook for those who need to talk about their struggles (Thatcher, 2022). It is

important for everyone to have those connections because of all the benefits family/loved ones

bring.

While I love disc golf there are times that the activity becomes stressful for me, and I

begin to get frustrated with it. Frustration can stem from not throwing the best shots or losing a

disc in the woods. At the beginning of this activity, I faced many frustrations as it was a lot to

learn and hone my skills to be where they are now. I am not the best player in the world, but I

have grown a lot in the last seven months I have been playing. The weekend when I went with

Clay, I had started out playing well but then I lost my favorite disc which upset me and

ultimately left me frustrated for most of the game. Towards the end, I got over the loss of my

disc and began to have a good time playing leading me to finish with a decent overall score.

When it comes to reading, I can be stressed about finishing a book when I do not enjoy the story.

As of right now, I am reading Lore which has a Greek mythology aspect to it, and I am

thoroughly enjoying the story. I have this characteristic of mine where no matter what the book

is I must finish the story. A couple months ago, I read a story called Skadi and I struggled to

continue reading that book incredibly so. A family friend wrote that book making it his first book

published so I felt an obligation to read it. However, I am used to more experienced writing and

his just was not what I needed in a book. I pushed and pushed to force myself to finish, taking

me about a month to finish a 550-page book. This struggle caused me to not enjoy reading as

much as I normally do but once I completed the read, I felt better knowing that I got through the

book and do not have to face that sort of stress again.

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My leisure activity supports my mental and physical health. The leisure activity that

brings me the most enjoyment is disc golf. This sport does a great job at supporting my mental

and physical health as it challenges me to consistently perfect my skills and provides a great full-

body workout. The course I usually play is a tough course because of the landscape being by a

mountain and the overall design. It is a great cardio workout and throwing the discs at the right

speed and direction works the upper body muscle groups. As it is a challenge, I feel a sense of

accomplishment when I finish playing the course because I know I put in work while also

enjoying the game and the beautiful nature that surrounds me. Disc golf is a great sport for

everyone to get involved with because of the positive benefits it holds for people.

I feel as though my leisure does not detract from my health or wellness at all. All my

activities are geared toward ones that are positive for one’s health. Disc golf is great for mental

growth and physical activity and reading calms the individual and expands their mind. The only

“activity” that I could see as potentially detracting is watching TV. If I were to be one who

wastes their entire day and night watching TV, then it would become a problem. Spending too

long on the couch is not good for the body as it can leave cramps and aches all over and that

amount of screen is not healthy for brain development.

Since the beginning of school, I have not had much time to read as much as I would like to.

Typically, during the week, I will go to work in the morning and get home around 8pm, eat

dinner, then work on my homework. My schedule pushes my reading time to the weekend and

even then, it is limited depending on what plans are going on. In the summer, I was able to read

for five hours at a time because I had no schoolwork to get in the way of my reading time. My

education is more important to me than my reading so I will prioritize school over it, but it would
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be nice to maybe get three hours of reading instead of four. I think more reading would help me

relax during the week as I can lose track of time and get lost in the world of fantasy.

Throughout my analysis of the data, I concluded that I manage my time well regarding work,

leisure, and education. For the days I tracked, I was able to see how I have achieved a good

balance so far this semester. As the winter weather approaches, I will shift my leisure activity to

focus on my efforts at the gym. The cold bitter air is not an ideal environment for one to play

disc golf in, but I will surely continue to practice drills when I am able. Holiday time allows for

more free time away from school which can help me to reach my goal of reading for pleasure

more frequently. I hope that by following this type of pattern for the remainder of the term, it

will continue to go well.

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References

Cherry, Kendra. (2023, March 6). How important is alone time for mental health? Verywell

Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/how-important-is-alone-time-for-mental-health-

5184607#:~:text=Giving%20yourself%20alone%20time%20means,lets%20you%20focus

%20on%20yourself.

Neendoor, S. (2023, September 28). Impact and role of technology in the workplace in 2023.

Kitaboo. https://kitaboo.com/technology-in-the-workplace/

Thatcher, T. (2022, November 22). Top 10 Benefits of Spending Time with Family. Highland

Springs. https://highlandspringsclinic.org/the-top-ten-benefits-of-spending-time-with-

family/