Drift?
For some, there are times of the day, week or year that are full of obligations, and there are others that are more free and open. For educators there may be more freedom in the summer months. With the 35-hour work week in France, many working in large companies have 9 or 10 weeks of vacation throughout the year, and some others have situations in which they are truly free of work and other major obligations all weekends and evenings. Is this unassigned time (to be) one of abandon or holding? These open spaces can be both refreshing and also sometimes daunting, as they stretch out before one, fleeting, after periods of having had less scope in choices.
Does one let the hours and days slip by, enjoying spontaneity, feeling one's humanity, inbreath, outbreath, experiencing simple things, finally, like eating, walking, taking in the ambiant light, having gentle conversations with friends, or perhaps follow pop and media culture's promptings? Let oneself go, and see where this predictable, or mysterious drift leads? This drift can be rich in itself. Guy Debord (Théorie de la dérive, 1956) and Karen O'Rourke (Walking as Mapping, 2013) both speak about how one can experience an urban space, by an intentional choice to drift, to make the choice to not have an intentionally programmed plan, and how this choice to drift can alter one's experience and perceptions. One could transpose this notion of urban drift to how one moves through the day. Though certainly intentional or unintention drift in terms of how one uses time is far more common than intentional geographical urban drift, as a way of moving through space.
Or does one make a plan, make use of this time, to acheive one or more goals, goals more difficult to get through during the busy periods: knuckle down, make a schedule, work long hours, alone or with others?
There is also the perhaps constant and very great risk of getting got up in 'little things to take care of" and neither experience the possible benefits of drift nor of having moved forward on a project.
Is a 'balanced' mix of some the above possible? Or will one approach (abandon or holding: drift or discipline and scheduling) most likely, in reality, dominate the other, or could being caught in the middle end up being less what one is up for?
Mikado Sol, 2014, in collaboration with anthropologist Germain Meulemans, Geological map, strips of transluscent paper, covered in industrial earth or cement powder, 15 cm. x 31 cm.
