Things drift in and out of your life. That's how life works. It keeps moving, even if you don't. Sometimes you don't have a say in the changes. Things like puberty and death and inevitable.
Some things, you do. Extracurricular activities and friendship are some things where you are given a choice to pursue them or not.
I am finding, as I progress through life- the temptation from the lack of effort it takes to stop something which could be considered an extracurricular. Just like that.
You see, most of us are all part of the rat race, a cog in the machine called capitalism which rules most modernised countries. You know what can happen when you're treated a bit like a machine with the same mundane, boring timetable day after day? You turn into a machine. You think like a machine. You operate on a day to day basis, even when you're not working, like a machine. Emotionless. Just get the work done. Then turn off until you're needed again.
I find that as one's mentality gets increasingly mechanised, it's very possible for one to simply stop things which they don't absolutely have to do (unlike jobs; otherwise how would they sustain themselves?)
For instance, once I quit my various sports for variety of reasons- injuries (leading to reluctant parents,) being deemed medically unfit and simply timetable clashes, I just stopped all forms of optional physical activity.
Of course now as I pay the price for not exercising regularly (decreased fitness and weight gain,) I declare exercise a necessary part of life. However, it doesn't just have to be exercise I refer to- could be anything out of one's regular work/school timetable- hobbies, friendships.
Sometimes I think people are so tired and under stimulated day after day, week after week, a nine to five job being so exhausting yet boring simultaneously. So when they come home, they simply drag their feet around as they eat dinner, and drag into work requirements, and drag themselves to bed, until they are awoken next morning.
This robot lifestyle can push hobbies and friendship away in favour of simply resting and doing nothing. Sometimes with hobbies and friendships, you must make an active effort to sustain them. Keep talking to each other. Keep coming back to the hobby. As I said before, the temptation of simply stopping something over time is a very big one which takes up less effort than maintaining it
Much like the robot analogy I used earlier, people can simply be so emotionless after all of this. A frame of a person, but empty inside, no enrichment to their life.
A way one could escape this hell hole of repetition and boredom would be to find your passion. Opposed to something you simply 'like,' you do not drop or stop doing whatever you're passionate about as easily as you would with something you simply 'like.'
Unfortunately that's easier said then done. Some people come across their passion early in life, and find a way to integrate it into their life, some making a living out of it. They are the lucky ones.
Some aren't so lucky, and never quite find their passion. They might find things they like- no don't get me wrong, you can still sustain something they enjoy outside of their work just well as they would their passion- but I simply believe passions are harder to drop. You can also wind down with have things you truly enjoy, but are perhaps not a hundred percent passionate about.
I suppose if you have a family, that would one's stimulus out of work. You have children/s you should love with your heart and soul, as well as (in most cases) a partner that you're sticking with for life. Being a parent is a 24/7 job for a good two decades or so and I'd imagine that'd be quite a big thing out of work.
Another measure against turning into a robot out of work is to find small joys everywhere.
Volunteer. Smile at and thank people. Stimulate yourself with a good, trusted circle of friends who you can have sincere, provocative discussions with, yet also pull lewd faces at each other across the street/classroom/office/whatever. Find beauty and joy in everything. Do whatever.
Once you find something you truly enjoy, or are passionate about, it's much harder to stop doing it. That's because you enjoy it for whatever reason you do, and you won't want to lose out that easily. You have a reason to uphold the friendship or hobby; something to fight for should your relations with this friendship out hobby comes under threat.
I don't think I've found my true passion yet, but I've been trying to stimulate my life outside school. I have started socialising with people from my local high school at the library. I meditate and I've picked up reading again. (Reading is unfortunately something else which I simply stopped in high school.) As it is spring, I have also been spending more time in my garden, removing weeds and checking all of my plants are budding, adding mulch where necessary.
I find that these enrichments make my daily life a lot more enjoyable, outside of my daily cycle of school and work.
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