As with many things in
life, a
balance needs to be struck between
work and
leisure in order for one to
live well. Ideally, one should find a
job that feels like
play; as
Confucius put it, "Choose a job you
love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." Unfortunately, in the
US,
work is the only
activity that's valued. Play,
soul-searching, picking up interesting
trivia... all these
things are referred to as ways to "
kill time".
If enjoying yourself is "killing time", then the implication is that by working you somehow save its life. Procrastination is demonized when it has to do with work, but encouraged in the field of leisure. But if you're caught in a meaningless job (from your perspective; somebody has to sweep the floors), then what is that "saved" time really worth? Money? What's its use if you're supposed to work whenever you're not eating or sleeping? Money can't buy happiness; one needs to get an enjoyable job to "buy" happiness, or "waste" time to "rent" it.
But in this country, looking for a meaningful job is discouraged in favor of looking for a job that pays well. In fact, this has been taken to such an extreme that most people think that a job that pays well is a meaningful one. You can't be happy unless you've got enough cash to be a good little impulse buyer and support the big corporations. Thus, the only time that's well spent is time spent earning as much money as possible.
But the stress! Filling your time with nothing but work and chores (yes, the weekend is a time for relaxation in theory, but in practice it's when you get the chores done) is bound to burn one out. Seeing a spare moment as something to fill with a responsibility is a torturous way to live. Thus, if you see drudgework as the only way to support time's life, then you have to kill time before it kills you. Read a novel. Play a video game. Participate in the sport of your choice. Watch that Star Trek marathon. Meditate. Whatever suits you. Just because an activity doesn't directly benefit someone else doesn't mean it's worthless, despite what society might lead you to believe.
Try it sometime. You might even like it.