What would you do with your time if you didn't have to work to meet your food, housing, and healthcare needs?

jvw@lemmy.blahaj.zone to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 99 points –

Re-creating this thread a different server.

edit: "not work" as in "food, housing, and healthcare needs are met," not as in "billionaire super-villain money"

I would sail sail the great lakes for weeks at a time.

I would write more music, and hire musicians to play it with me.

I would spend half the summer growing food (which I already do!)

I would continue to invest in my own mental health, but spend more time meditating.

I have chronic fatigue (to simplify a longer story), and spending that precious energy solving logic puzzles for a paycheck is sometimes pretty demoralizing.

57

Begin to develop and publish cost efficient free open source designs for scientific laboratory equipment that can be made by anybody, so that scientific laboratories are able to do science without spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on a machine that rocks left and right or shakes in a circle.

Probably focus "full time" on indie gamedev.

This is my answer as well. It sucks that I can only work on my game on weekends and holidays while the rest of my life is wasted on boring business bullshit that nobody cares about.

Not have to work for money as in infinite money?

Probably accidentally kill myself within a year from stupidity by having access to effectively anything I want

sorry, I mean, if you didn't have to worry about food, housing, healthcare. I just edited the title to reflect that.

In the original thread you didn't have infinite money, just the basics (food, housing, healthcare).

My summers are free and i always make big plans to learn new things but i mostly just fuck off and fret that i only have x more days. During covid i volunteered at the local food bank in the summer. I should do more of that. Also, there are kids who don't get regular meals when school is out. I would like to work with the organization that addresses that.

Make music. Travel, if money isn't an issue.

When I retire I want to hike and camp, cook really nice meals, grow a garden, and make hot rods.

I'd want to learn a language or two. Specifically Irish/Gaeilge (my heritage) and French.
I'd also work on getting healthier and being a better friend and neighbor.

Being able to speak Gaeilge and French would be very cool.

I'd learn Mandarin if I had the time

Tabletop gaming and things adjacent. I primarily love three RPGs, but I also like board games. Also enjoy doing campaign prep, writing software utilities, 3d printing, and other arts and crafts type things related to tabletop gaming.

I like PC games, too, but seldom play them anymore. My reflexes are slower now, and I miss hanging with friends IRL. If I didn't have to work, I'd probably catch up on some of the backlog of older games.

I also feel like most new big publisher PC games kind of suck and are formulaic money grabs. But every now and then a real indy gem comes out, and I get hooked for a little while.

We should hang out once we don't have to work anymore.

Let's do it! I can't wait for 2054!

Shit. That date sounds a little optimistic. I'll only be 72 by then, that's just barely over halfway to Millennial retirement age!

Set up a little woodworking shop and make banjos

Even if my needs were met I'd still spend a lot of my time achieving wants. Not just stuff I can buy or pay for, but things that bring me satisfaction and contentment. So I'd probably still have a job, just with a little flexibility towards prioritizing job satisfaction over pure pay.

Got big piles of books, games, shows, and at least one unstarted but have all the stuff project I'd knock out. After all that? Prob a lot of self work and maybe give herb gardening a go.

Go to the doctor. Turn my backyard into a little farm. Learn shit. Probably start with another language.

I'd like to think that I'd spend the work time on my hobbies. But realistically I'd spend most of the day watching YouTube videos and reading Lemmy because "I have to go to the store later so I can't start something big now". I'd definitely spend more time on my own programming projects, music production, running (or maybe other sports), and gaming though.

Travel, learn an instrument, work out, visit more festivals, concerts, museums.

What I do now, except I'd have more than tiny slices of time and energy to do it

I would mostly do more of what I am already doing, spending as much time as possible surrounded by nature, for me personally — woods. Or, riding my bike even more.. Learning and reading even more, plus programming level 9000 on the side.

I could visit Iceland and Japan without overthinking it too much..

Oh! If this “needs are met” applies to others too, then I could spend more time with people that are now grinding hard all this working or parenting life. If it doesn’t apply — then I could try to do my best that it would.

I have continual health challenges so I'd focus on "not being dead". Then sleep a lot more.

Learn dairy alternative recipes for my favorite foods so I can share them with my GF (she's allergic)

I’d work on forestation, planting permaculture food forests.

Live in a rural area with a good internet connection away from people, maintain the property and write mediocre stories that probably won't ever be published.

Currently hoping that I will be able to retire and do that for a short time before dying.

I'd probably cut down my current job to about 1 day a week (because I still love my job).

I'd Spend the rest of the time making all kinds of weird abstract artpieces that nobody would understand.

I would learn to sing, fly a plane, restore a car, dive deep into music writing and production, Id learn After Effects, make fan edits of my favourite films, I'd grind to get decent at racing Sims, I'd get back to writing my crappy alt history sci-fi novel, I'd try to get into board games, I'd try to reconnect with my family and I'd spend more time with my friends, and I'd try to build a house and make it run as much on renewable energy as I could, and have efficient heating.

Then there's all the languages I wanted to learn - French, Italian, German...

So much I could do. I would cook a lot more, I like the food I make, and so do others who've tried it, I just wish I had the energy and time to cook more.

I'd actually be good at programming. Probably finally try my hand at game Dev and whatever else I felt like programming. I'd also go to the gym during the daytime.

I'd do a lot more bicycle-touring, mainly. I really want to do cross-Canada one day, but work makes that tricky. I guess I'd also learn way more useless skills (so far I can juggle, ride a unicycle, solve a Rubik's cube, and catch most any bite-sized food item in my mouth)

Well... Great that I don't need to worry about it but I still need to worry about it for my horses. So believe it or not. I would still work to afford that.

There are two kinds of people who own horses

The ones who are rich as sin, and the ones with cobwebs in their wallets.

It is called a stable bank balance for a reason... Cause the money will eventually end up in the stable with the horses.

Still wouldn't trade it for something else.

I'd do gardening, and the occasional cooking experiment.

go back to learning and maybe explore bio chemistry.

oh shit, I actually have time to figure out what bills these reps are pushing, maybe call and criticize some shady things in there.

I would be a better husband, first of all. I'd have much more time and energy available for more than what I already do around the house plus better dates. Beyond that, I think I'd write and record a bunch of music just to share with the world, maybe try to make a few bucks off of it but not beyond "buy me a beer" type donations from people who can spare it. I really want to do a post-rock concept album before I kick the bucket, just to have a big completed project checked off. Maybe I'd write some bad poetry too until I got sorta good at it, maybe a book if I had enough to say.

I'd also play even more video games, obviously. Maybe I'd finally hit champ in Rocket League lmao.

I would be more involved with my community. I like teaching, so I'd teach english, basic computer skills, reading, I'd even do some tutoring and share my knowledge of vegetable gardening.

Still pursue a career in fundamental research, but without burning myself out working nights to survive while finish my degree. After already being diagnosed without burnout.

I'd sew stuffed animals donate them to hospitals. I would also put on scavenger hunts for kids to find them around town! It'd be a good activity for kids to do with their siblings, parents, friends, etc.

I would open up a bearded dragon rescue again and possibly turn it into a sanctuary!

I'd learn how to use saws and do woodworking to create fun & interesting furniture! I can already do upholstery, but I'd love to make something from the ground up.

I'd apply for a wildlife rehab permit & help animals.

I'd learn how to code games and put my rusty Blender skills to work!

Gosh.. there's honestly so much I'd like to do.. but I am poor, uninsured, and living paycheck-to-paycheck, so I don't have the time or money to do any of it.

It's nice to think about, though.

I would be an inventor. I would be an explorer. I would be a teacher. I would be an artist. I would be a musician. I would be an entertainer. I would be a builder.

If I was free to do anything legal with enough money to maintain my current middle class lifestyle, then I would spend a lot of my time visiting cool places and photgraphing them.

I am no millionaire, not even in SEK, but make a good living, if I could keep my current pay and just do whatever, I would be travelling throughout Sweden and the rest of Europe looking for cool places, like abandoned industries, old/abandoned military infrastructure, old/abandoned civil infrastructure, cool modern places with infrastructure.

I'd probably save up to get a smaller crossover SUV, I love my 2021 Seat Leon, but it isn't brilliant at going over overgrown tracks.

I would do more woodwork and get some actual projects done. I would also spend more time cooking and practicing.

I would volunteer more, things like soup kitchens and furniture restorations for the less fortunate. I would also (hope to) kick my gaming habit since I would have the energy to do something more physically intensive .

There are a large number of crumbs that need to be gathered.

I’d travel way more. I’d visit friends and family and hang out with them, which is almost impossible right now because everyone’s trying to work and and survive. I would probably consider having kids. I can’t justify a child in my current financial situation.

Id still do the same work I’m doing now most likely, but I would cut back workdays to maybe 3 days a week at most. I’d cook more.

I’d definitely be less stressed. I wouldn’t have to worry about rent or my electric getting shut off.

Idk, I would do everything I think this life was meant for compared to the hellhole we are in currently.

Work for my retirement because you forgot that :P

I would travel a bit and concentrate more on farming. I do enjoy my software engineering job and was writing code as a hobby long before it paid the bills so I'd want to keep up something like that.

If it's free, I'd get something large as housing. A proper mansion in the middle of the city. And then have a café and community area on the ground floor. Also a workshop/lab like a hackerspace. Then I need one bedroom and all the other rooms get converted into escape rooms. I'd spend the time building them and spend time with people and build silly things. Optional: a bed and breakfast and rehersal rooms. I think maintaining that and baking for the cafe will be a full-time job.

Become an incredible flow artist and probably play videogames while I'm not practicing. I'm already damn good and could probably make serious money by busking, but I don't ever want my audience to have influence over my practice. I won't do it for a living. If I already had living sorted out though, I'm gonna spend all my time doing what I love!

First, I would move into my own place so I don't have to deal with the constant stress of conforming to the expectations of my bigoted family members. Then, for a while, I would probably do nothing. I'm burnt out and have a lifetime of shit to process and heal from. I need time to pick up all the parts of myself that the world has forced me to throw away.

Eventually, when I've gotten a little better, I'll probably start wanting to accomplish things again. Nothing so ambitious as the dreams I used to have, but they were probably unrealistic anyway. And with my basic needs covered, I would be free to do what I find important and fulfilling instead of spending all my time making line go up for some asshole billionaire.

I've always wanted to write stories. I used to draw and paint, a long time ago before the depression got really bad. I'm starting to learn 3D modeling and gamedev, and it would be nice to do that just because I want to, not because I'm unable to work a regular job and am flailing for a way to pay the bills.

Maybe I would just organize get-togethers with my friends where we play tabletop games and eat food I cooked for them using produce from a little garden I made.

There's no shortage of things to do if I'm free to pursue them.

I would put all my focus in making my games finally, instead of just some evenings

Is make fine furniture and finish writing that video game I started about 8 years ago.