Balancing Freedom & Structure in Valencia

Exploring with Freedom

What do you do with your unstructured time? What if you had a full month of it?

August is a month full of unstructured time for me, meaning it would be light on external constraints and client projects. That’s one of the reasons I decided to come to Spain when I did.

That means that I’m able to just follow my energy. It’s the ultimate freedom to do what I want. But with that the challenge of choosing what to do and how to spend my time.

Building Structure

I knew that a total lack of structure would feel unmooring and demotivating so - as I’ve been doing for years - I set up a baseline framework for myself for my month in Spain ahead of time. I drafted a plan of how I wanted to spend my mornings and generally what projects I wanted to work on and when.

I also knew that the Remote Year program has activities that I’ve opted-in to and the community has created even more unofficial ones.

This first week has been full and satisfying. A week filled with welcome activities, miles of walking, conversations with people, afternoon naps, late dinners, and later drinks.

I discovered a lovely building holding lunch cafés while buying a yoga mat. Six of us booked tickets on a 1.5-hour catamaran excursion on Thursday morning. Friday I picked up the bike I’ve rented for the month and rode in the River Park which lacks a river but is full of shade and a breeze along the flat bike paths. We went to a flamenco show and a local soccer game. I’ve booked a scuba diving trip next week and a few days in Ibiza later this month. It’s been a week of yes, which has been lovely.

Finding Balance

The fullness of social energy builds when people collide and interact and I love that.

Spending a month here means that there is time for the experience to unfold in a more leisurely way. It means that I can take the time to explore slowly and have a smattering of full days paired with a few quiet ones to work, write, create, and think.

I just have to balance the freedom of out-and-about activities with focused work.

So, I play with balancing the openness of freedom and the anchoring strength of the structure. For me, today, that looks like an impromptu morning bike ride and a pre-planned afternoon working session.

How do you approach adding structure to your unstructured free time? Or looking at it another way, how do you approach adding freedom to your structured time?

Until next time.